marcella 's review for:

The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh
5.0

The set up sounds like a fairy tale— ragamuffin orphan breaks into the palace and falls in love with the princess's maid—but this book is not about dashing deeds or happy endings. It's a gorgeous story about a man and the visually real people who make up his legacy. No heroes, muddy morality, everyone is flawed and that's that makes this story of generations so powerful. I loved the nuance in the backdrop, too: a world struggling with colonialism, two world wars, and the implications of being Indian in the British army.

This book made my cry on an airplane. Would recommend.