The English Problem
A Novel
Beena Kamlani
- **A
- young
- Indian
- man
- is
- tapped
- to
- help
- his
- country’s
- fight
- for
- freedom—but
- his
- heart
- engages
- him
- in
- a
- different
- war.“Grand,
- sweeping,
- mesmerizing
- .
- .
- .
- a
- richly
- detailed,
- politically
- profound
- story
- of
- love,
- of
- migration,
- of
- individuals
- caught
- up
- in
- the
- great
- convulsions
- of
- history.”—Joseph
- O’Neill,
- PEN/Faulkner
- Award–winning
- author
- of
- Godwin**Shiv
- Advani
- is
- an
- eighteen-year-old
- growing
- up
- in
- India.
- But
- he
- is
- no
- ordinary
- young
- man.
- Shiv
- has
- been
- personally
- chosen
- by
- Mahatma
- Gandhi
- to
- come
- to
- England,
- learn
- their
- laws,
- and
- then
- return
- home
- and
- help
- drive
- the
- British
- out
- of
- India.
- Before
- he
- leaves,
- his
- family
- insists
- he
- fulfill
- his
- arranged
- marriage,
- and
- he
- is
- hastily
- betrothed
- to
- a
- young
- woman
- he
- hardly
- knows.He
- arrives
- in
- London
- and
- soon
- discovers
- a
- world
- he
- is
- both
- repelled
- by
- and
- drawn
- to.
- Shiv
- knows
- his
- duty:
- get
- in,
- learn
- the
- letter
- of
- the
- law,
- get
- out.
- But
- as
- anyone
- who
- has
- ever
- lived
- in
- a
- British
- colony
- can
- tell
- you,
- “the
- English
- Problem”
- is
- multifaceted.
- The
- racist
- colonialism
- of
- “the
- empire
- on
- which
- the
- sun
- never
- sets”
- seeps
- into
- everything—not
- just
- landed
- territories,
- but
- territories
- of
- the
- mind:
- literature,
- language,
- religion,
- sexuality,
- self-identity.
- Soon
- the
- people
- Shiv
- sought
- to
- be
- liberated
- from
- will
- be
- the
- people
- he
- desperately
- wants
- to
- be
- a
- part
- of.
- In
- the
- end,
- Shiv
- must
- fight
- not
- only
- for
- his
- country’s
- liberation
- but
- also
- his
- own.Set
- against
- the
- backdrop
- of
- the
- Indian
- independence
- movement,
- with
- appearances
- by
- historical
- figures
- such
- as
- Virginia
- and
- Leonard
- Woolf
- and
- Mahatma
- Gandhi,
- The
- English
- Problem
- is
- so
- self-assured
- and
- ambitious,
- it
- is
- hard
- to
- believe
- it
- is
- a debut.
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