Amitav Ghosh’s extraordinary first novel makes a claim on literary turf held by Gabriel García Márquez and Salman Rushdie. In a vivid and magical story, The Circle of Reason traces the misadventures of Alu, a young master weaver in a small Bengali village who is falsely accused of terrorism. Alu flees his home, traveling through Bombay to the Persian Gulf to North Africa with a bird-watching policeman in pursuit. “A remarkable storyteller, a Scheherezade effortlessly spinning tales within tales, the possessor of a strong narrative voice quite like no other.” — Newsday “Ghosh’s writing soars, producing electric images.” — Baltimore Sun
