Clear Light Of Day by Desai Anita

Clear Light Of Day is a novel that focuses on misunderstandings in a family, the ability to forgive, and the value of love. This book is heart touching, engaging, and semi-autobiographical in nature.

Summary Of The Book

Clear Light Of Day, originally published in 1980, focuses on the importance of family and forgiveness.

The story is set in Old Delhi, and the book is divided into four parts. Clear Light Of Day revolves around the Das family. Bimla, the eldest sister, lives in her childhood home. This spinster works as a history teacher at a women’s college, and takes care of Baba, her autistic younger brother. Tara, the younger sister, lives in America with her husband and two children. The fourth sibling, Raja, is successful and brilliant, and resides in Hyderabad.

Tara, now in her 40s, comes to visit her family in Old Delhi. She stays with Bimla and Baba, and slowly realizes that a lot of family tension has built up over the years. Bimla refuses to attend Raja’s daughter’s wedding. Tara later learns that after Raja left behind his two siblings in Old Delhi, he became the landlord of their childhood home. This insulted Bimla, and she never forgave her brother.

The second part of Clear Light Of Day goes back to the time of the partition. All the four characters are adolescents, and their parents have passed away. Raja is keen on learning Urdu, and eventually moves to Hyderabad. Tara gets married, and also leaves. The third part of Clear Light Of Day goes back into an era where India was still under British rule. Here, the three eldest siblings are waiting for Baba to be born. The final portion of this novel transports readers back into contemporary India, and shows how Tara tries to mend relationships between the siblings.

Clear Light Of Day is a compassionate novel, which uses poetry to showcase emotions. This book is the author’s most autobiographical work, and it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 1980.

About Anita Desai

Anita Mazumdar Desai, born in 1937, is an Indian writer.

She writes books for children, short stories, and novels. Her works include Cry The Peacock, The Village By The Sea: An Indian Family Story, The Zigzag Way, The Peacock Garden, and Fasting, Feasting.

Desai completed her BA in English Literature from Miranda House, the University of Delhi, in 1957. The author was given the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978, and the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 1983. Desai is a John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities, teaching Creative Writing, at MIT. In 2003, the author won the Benson Medal of the Royal Society of Literature, and has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize thrice. Desai writes for for the New York Review of Books, and is the mother of Booker Prize winner, Kiran Desai. The author lives in Massachusetts.