This new, softcover issue of V. S. Naipaul's A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS
will introduce a whole new generation to a style of writing that
evokes the 19th century novel. Critically acclaimed as one of the
best novels of the 20th century, A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS has not
lost any of its charm or appeal.

Drawing on history, personal experience, and literature, A HOUSE
FOR MR. BISWAS is the story of a journalist who marries into a
forbidding family. The time is postcolonial Trinidad, where the
disparity between the classes is wide. Throughout his life, his
quest for autonomy and independence is met with disaster at every
corner. Poor Mr. Biswas! He never seems to get a break. When he
finally achieves a lifelong yearning of owning his own home, even
if it is heavily mortgaged, it is his to call his own. The
endurance of Mr. Biswas is a lesson in the power of the human
spirit, tragic and comic together.

With an exquisite command of the English language, V. S. Naipaul's
A HOUSE FOR MR. BISWAS may leave your heart heavy but glad for the
experience. He has captured the cultures of India as well as the
Caribbean with perfection and detail. The flavor will stay with you
long after the book is closed.

Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was born and raised in Trinidad
the son of an Indian Brahmin family. He was educated at Oxford and
published his first novel, MIGUEL STREET, in 1959. He has received
prestigious writing awards, including the Booker Prize.