'Truly an astonishing writer' -- Observer 'It's more than just a good story. There is an animated cast of variously displaced persons, most of them of mixed race, mixed culture and mixed sexuality! Outstanding' -- The Times 'She excels in describing the confrontation between the old world and the new! she has done it before, but never so well. Three Continents is stunningly good ! rich and constantly enthralling' -- Evening Standard 'Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's new novel is as richly coloured and intricate as one of the works of art in which her crooked characters deal. ! The final chapter is a tour de force, a gripping battle between good and evil, with an ending that reverberates in the memory' -- Sunday Times 'Her tussle with India is one of the richest treats of contemporary literature' -- Guardian 'A writer of genius ! a writer of world class -- a master storyteller' -- Sunday Times

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala was born in Germany of Polish parents and came to England in 1939 at the age of twelve. She graduated from Queen Mary College, London University, and married the Indian architect C.S.H. Jhabvala. They lived in Delhi from 1951 to 1975. Since then they have divided their time between Delhi, New York and London. As well as her numerous novels and short stories, in collaboration with James Ivory and Ismail Merchant Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has written scripts for film and television, including A Room with a View and Howards End, both of which are Academy Award winners. She won the Booker Prize for Heat and Dust in 1975, the Neil Gunn International Fellowship in 1978, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1984 and was made a CBE in the 1998 New Year's Honours List.