The release date for the English version of 'Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity' by
Katherine Boo is Feb 2012. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
This iconic piece of narrative nonfiction, written by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, chronicles the dramatic and sometimes devastating tale of families trying to improve their lot in life in one of the great, unequal cities of the twenty-first century.
This fast-paced, masterfully written book brings to life a confusing era of inequity and global transformation, based on three years of unwavering reporting.
In the shadow of opulent hotels, Annawadi is a temporary community close to the Mumbai airport. Annawadians are brimming with optimism as India begins to flourish. Teenage Muslim Abdul, thoughtful and entrepreneurial, finds "a fortune beyond counting" in the recyclable trash that the wealthy discard. Asha, a woman of formidable wit and deep scars from a childhood in rural poverty, has identified an alternate route to the middle class: political corruption. With any lucky, her lovely, perceptive daughter, the "most-everything girl" of Annawadi, would soon become the town's first female college graduate. Even the most impoverished residents of Annawadian, such as Kalu, a fifteen-year-old scrap-metal thief, think they are getting closer to the pleasant lifestyles and enjoyable moments they refer to as "the full enjoy."
Subdued conflicts over caste, religion, sex, power, and economic jealousy erupt into violence, terror and a worldwide recession rattle the city, and Abdul the trash sorter is wrongly blamed in a horrifying tragedy. The fundamental features of a competitive era emerge when the most profound universal truths and the most delicate personal aspirations collide. Likewise, the inventiveness and bravery of the Annawadi people are boundless.
Behind the Beautiful Forevers plunges the reader headfirst into one of the secret worlds of the twenty-first century and into the lives of individuals who are difficult to forget. It does it with intellect, humor, and a profound understanding of what binds people to one another at a time of turbulent upheaval.