Radhika Jha
Winner of the PRIX GUERLAIN
After the death of her father Leela’s family is forced to leave Kenya. Struggling to survive, on the streets of an alien city, she discovers an unusual quality in herself – her extraordinary sensitivity to smell. A seemingly innocuous and occasionally useful attribute, it gradually begins to colour her every emotion and response.
Soon, the dark feral stench of her own body threatens to overpower her, and Leela fears that she may have lost all control over her own life.
‘Radhika Jha’s story is hard to let go: she writes this orphan’s tale with effortless immediacy, like Leela improvising one of her pungent, seductive feasts.’ LA Times Book Review
‘Richly described and erotically charged.’ Washington Post
‘Outstanding. A novel to rival Patrick Suskind’s Perfume.’ Punch
‘Her writing is generous, unbridled, sensual. In her company, one begins to rediscover Paris, its beauty, its mirages, its traps, with a roving eye.’ Le Figaro
Sales
- Penguin India (original publisher)
- Editions Philippe Picquier France
- Neri Pozza Italy
- Arena Holland
- Soho Press USA
- Quartet UK
- Blanvalet/Bertelsmann Germany
- Natur och Kultur Sweden
- Dom Quixote Portugal
- Diigisi Greece
- Fuso Japan
- Ediciones el Cobre Spanish
- Alfa Narodna Knjiga Serbia
- Leaders Publishers Korea
- Editura Leda Romania
- Janet 45 Bulgaria
Material: finished copies (307pp)