Gifted

New
Paperback
2008
$16.79

In a voice that is by turns very funny and fiercely tender, Gifted by Nikita Lalwani brings us a captivating story of high aspirations and deep longing, and of the sometime loneliness of childhood. Cardiff in the 1980s is a place where maths can get you noticed. Rumis Vasi is the town's 'maths prodigy': untangling numbers and Rubik's Cubes protects her from the harsh vagaries of the playground and gives a pattern to her world. But after years of her father's determined tutoring, Rumi finds that numbers are beginning to lose their innocence. India infuses her with a romantic sense of belonging and, as she grows older, and desire becomes a dirty word in the Vasi household, the idea of love is opened up to painful examination. A sparkling funny and poignant study of a young maths prodigy struggling with her gift and a difficult family . (Gerard Woodward, Books Of The Year, Observer ). Superb, brilliantly realised. The searing narrative is unflinchingly and tenderly written . ( Independent ). Compelling, heart-wrenching and laced with redemptive hope...Touching and funny . ( Observer ). Nikita Lalwani was born in Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff. Her first novel Gifted was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Desmond Elliott Prize. She lives in London.

Synopsis

In a voice that is by turns very funny and fiercely tender, "Gifted" by Nikita Lalwani brings us a captivating story of high aspirations and deep longing, and of the sometime loneliness of childhood. Cardiff in the 1980s is a place where maths can get you noticed. Rumis Vasi is the town's 'maths prodigy': untangling numbers and Rubik's Cubes protects her from the harsh vagaries of the playground and gives a pattern to her world. But after years of her father's determined tutoring, Rumi finds that numbers are beginning to lose their innocence. India infuses her with a romantic sense of belonging and, as she grows older, and desire becomes a dirty word in the Vasi household, the idea of love is opened up to painful examination. "A sparkling funny and poignant study of a young maths prodigy struggling with her gift and a difficult family". (Gerard Woodward, Books Of The Year, "Observer"). "Superb, brilliantly realised. The searing narrative is unflinchingly and tenderly written". ("Independent"). "Compelling, heart-wrenching and laced with redemptive hope...Touching and funny". ("Observer"). Nikita Lalwani was born in Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff. Her first novel "Gifted" was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Desmond Elliott Prize. She lives in London.

$16.79

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 01 May 2008
ISBN 10: 0141030399
ISBN 13: 9780141030395
Prizes: Commended for Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2007. Shortlisted for Whitbread Book Awards: First Novel Category 2007 and Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards: Fiction 2007 and Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award 2007. Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize 2008.

Media Reviews

A sparkling funny and poignant study of a young maths prodigy struggling with her gift and a difficult family -- Gerard Woodward, , Books of the Year * Observer *
Superb, brilliantly realised. The searing narrative is unflinchingly and tenderly written * Independent *
Pinpoints with genuine insight the bewilderment and anguish of a young woman marked out from her peers * Sunday Times *
Lalwani's evocation of teenage dislocation is pitch-perfect and she inhabits her heroine's interior world with tender authority * Guardian *
The novel's triumph is in elucidating the hurt of both child and parents. Lalwani compellingly depicts the pain and pleasure of breaking the rules * New Statesman *
Beautiful, brilliant . . . Unveils the grand emotions and tiny details of other people's lives with insight, compassion, humour and heartbreaking honesty * Stephen Merchant *
Accomplished and confident. Much to admire from the assured descriptions to the well judged blend of comedy and drama * The Times *
A poignant, vivid debut. Beautifully describes the dramas of growing up -- , Book of the Month * Marie Claire *
A giddy portrayal of youthful exuberance unleashed that rings startlingly true * Metro *
Compelling, heart-wrenching and laced with redemptive hope . . . Touching and funny * Observer *

Author Bio

Nikita Lalwani was born in Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff. Gifted is her first novel and was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Glen Dimplex Fiction Award 2007. She lives in London.