In a Free State

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 1971SHORTLISTED FOR THE GOLDEN MAN BOOKER PRIZEFrom Pulitzer Prize winner V.S. Naipaul, In A Free State is set in an imaginary state in Africa against a background of civil conflict. The book travels from America to London to Africa. The first third focuses on the fortunes of Santosh, a young Indian servant, at the mercy of this dreams, of his employers and of the countries in which he is plunged. It then moves into the world of expats in Africa, of government officers and radio people, attempting to understand the country they have found themselves in, to match their ideas to reality. And as always, in the background the threat of violence looms. The voices in this novel are breathtakingly vivid, the feelings of the characters portrayed with an intelligence and sensitivity that is rarely seen in contemporary writing.PRAISE FOR NAIPAUL"For sheer abundance of talent there can hardly be a writer alive who surpasses V. S. Naipaul. [He is] the world's writer, a master of language and perception." The New York Times Book Review"A Tolstoyan spirit.... The so-called Third World has produced no more brilliant literary artist." John Updike"V. S. Naipaul has a substantial claim as a comic writer.... This humor, conducted throughout with the utmost stylistic quietude, is completely original." Kingsley Amis, The Spectator"Mr. Naipaul travels with the artist's eye and ear and his observations are sharply discerning." Evelyn Waugh