Overview

'Both unputdownable and utterly engaging' Jonathan Raban, The Times Literary Supplement 'I started reading Theroux's Sir Vidia's Shadow, the story of his friendship with V. S. Naipaul over thirty years and five continents - its origins, development, and sad, enigmatic termination. I couldn't, as they say, put it down. I don't know of a more revealing study of the peculiar nature of friendship between professional writers, an unstable compound of empathy, solidarity and rivalry. Theroux's portrait of Naipaul . . . may be his finest literary creation' David Lodge, Guardian Books of the Year 'Thoroughly compelling. We can call it a memoir, or a biographical sketch, but it has more in it - more candour, more intensity, more angry puzzlement - than we would normally expect from either of these genres' Sunday Telegraph 'The portrait of Naipaul that emerges is uproariously believable . . . Most people are damaged human beings. What distinguishes writers is that they can turn their damage into something life-enhancing. That is what Sir Vidia's Shadow resplendently does' John Carey, Sunday Times

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A compact, provocative gem of a novel. Boston Globe<br><br> Vigorous and evocative . . . the kind of story you force yourself to savor slowly though you're dying to find out what happens next. The Washington Post<br><br> Both unputdownable and utterly engaging. <br><br>Times Literary Supplement

A compact, provocative gem of a novel. Boston Globe Vigorous and evocative . . . the kind of story you force yourself to savor slowly though you're dying to find out what happens next. The Washington Post Both unputdownable and utterly engaging. Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Date- 2013-08-06 Paul Theroux was born in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1941, and published his first novel, Waldo, in 1967. He wrote his next three novels, Fong and the Indians, Girls at Play and Jungle Lovers, after a five-year stay in Africa. He subsequently taught at the University of Singapore, and during his three years there produced a collection of short stories, Sinning with Annie, and highly praised novel Saint Jack. His other publications include The Black House (1974), a novel; The Great Railway Bazaar- By Train Through Asia (1975), an account of his journey by train from London to Tokyo and back; The Family Arsenal (1976); The Consul's File (1977); Picture Palace (1978; winnner of the Whitread Literary Award); A Christmans Card (1978; The Old Patagonian Express (1979); World's End and Other Stories (1980); London Snow (1980); The Mosquito Coats, which was the Yorkshire Post Novel of the Year for 1981 and the joint winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize; The London Embassy (1982); The Kingdom by the Sea (1983); Doctor Slaughter (1985); Sunrise with Seamonsters (1985); The Imperial Way (1985); O-Zone (1986); Riding the Iron Rooster (1988); My Secret History (1989) and Chicago Loop

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