Aleph Book Company to publish A Suitable Boy and A Suitable Girl by Vikram Seth Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Girl, the sequel to his award-winning, critically acclaimed bestseller, A Suitable Boy, which was published in 1993, and has since sold over a million copies around the world in twenty languages, will be published in the Indian subcontinent by Aleph Book Company, a company promoted by Rupa Publications India. While A Suitable Boy was set in 1950s India, and followed the lives and fortunes of four families, with its focus on the eorts of Lata Mehra’s mother to nd her "a suitable boy" to marry, the sequel will revolve around the stories of Lata’s grandchildren and the events of the present day. Publication is set for autumn/winter 2016. Rupa Publications India will also publish through Aleph Book Company the twentieth anniversary edition of A Suitable Boy. One of the longest novels ever written in the English language, it was hailed worldwide on publication (“puts a subcontinent between hardcovers” wrote the Sunday Times), and has continued to attract millions of fans ever since. One recent reader review on Amazon called it "the ultimate book on India" — evidently, its vast and rich attractions continue to remain as bright and alluring today as they were when the book was rst published. Said Vikram Seth: "I am delighted to be working with David Davidar and Kapish Mehra. My publishing relationship with David goes back twenty-ve years, and I have more respect and aection for him than for any other editor. As for Lata’s mother, Mrs Rupa Mehra —she tells me that she highly approves of being published by a company backed by her namesake.” Said David Davidar: "Publishing A Suitable Boy the rst time around was one of the dening moments of my publishing career, and my rst major success as a publisher. To be able to do so once more is quite extraordinary; in a way it seems to me that the novel is coming home. And to say that we're thrilled to be given the opportunity to publish A Suitable Girl would be a massive understatement. We're beyond thrilled by the prospect of publishing what will be, without a doubt, the publishing event of the decade." Said Kapish Mehra: “It is an honour and a privilege to publish Vikram Seth. We at Rupa are delighted”. *** Vikram Seth was born in India and educated here and in England, California and China. He has written acclaimed books in several genres: many books of poetry; a verse novel, e Golden Gate; a travel book, From Heaven Lake; animal fables, Beastly Tales; an epic novel, A Suitable Boy; and a memoir, Two Lives. His most recent novel, An Equal Music, was published in 1999. *** Aleph Book Company is an independent publisher promoted by Rupa Publications India. In the eighteen months since it began publishing, the company has made rapid strides towards establishing itself as a premier literary publishing house. Its distinguished authors have been nominated for numerous literary awards, and in 2013 alone Aleph’s authors won four out of the ve biggest literary awards open to Indian writers—Jerry Pinto’s Em and e Big Hoom won e Hindu Literary Prize 2012 (awarded in January 2013) and e Crossword Book Award 2013, Nilanjana Roy’s e Wildings won e Shakti Bhatt First Book Award 2013 and Chetan Raj Shrestha’s e King’s Harvest won e Tata Literature Live! First Book Award 2013. Its authors (in alphabetical order) include Allan Sealy, Amitava Kumar, Barkha Dutt, Chetan Raj Shrestha, Devdutt Pattanaik, Gurcharan Das, Jerry Pinto, Khushwant Singh, Leila Seth, Manjushree apa, Mark Tully, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Naresh Fernandes, Nilanjana Roy, Nirmala Lakshman, Pavan K. Varma, Pranay Gupte, Rajmohan Gandhi, Romila apar, Ruskin Bond, Shashi aroor, Shovon Chowdhury, Timeri N. Murari, Valmik apar and Wendy Doniger. For more information about the book and r egarding author interviews, please contact: Hina Mobar, General Manager, Marketing and Publicity, Aleph Book Company. Email: [email protected]. Tel: 0120 431 1399, 431 2499 Mobile: +91 8800388774.