Room on the Roof: Vagrants in the Valley (Paperback)  | Released: 15 Apr 2003

Two classic novels of adolescence by one of India's finest writers. In The Room on the Roof, Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, decides he has had enough of the tiny, diminshing European community and his tyrannical guardian, and runs away. To his delight, Rusty finds that life on the open road is packed with excitement and high adventure.... In Vagrants in the Valley, which picks up from where the first book ends, Rusty is joined in his travels by Kishen, another 'runaway'. As they venture further into the unknown, they discover new friends and participate in more escapades but also begin to understand the complexities of growing up and the boundaries that circumscribe even the freest spirits... Sharply observed, witty and wise, haunted on every page by the sights, smells and sounds of India, this evocation of youth, innocence and friendship will be read for a long time to come with deep, lasting pleasure. 'Like an Indian bazaar itself, the book is filled with the smells, sights, sounds, confusion and subtle organization of ordinary Indian life.' -Santha Rama Rau in The New York Times Book Review 'Has a special magic of its own' -Herald Tribune Book Review 'Considerable charm and spontaneity...' -San Francisco Chronicle 'Very engaging...' -The Guardian 'Moving in its simplicity and underlying tenderness...a novel of marked originality.' -The Scotsman 'Mr Bond is a writer of great gifts...' -The New StatesmanAbout The AuthorRuskin Bond’s first novel, The Room on the Roof, written when he was seventeen, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas (including Vagrants in the Valley, A Flight of Pigeons and Delhi Is Not Far), essays, poems and children’s books, many of which have been published by Penguin India. He has also written over 500 short stories and articles that have appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1993 and the Padma Shri in 1999