The East Indian
A Novel
Inspired by a historical figure, The East Indian tells the story of Tony, a native of the Indian subcontinent who came to colonial America. A story of loss, love, and survival, that is also a story of the early years of the English settlement of Virginia
The East Indian
A Novel
Inspired by a historical figure, The East Indian tells the story of Tony, a native of the Indian subcontinent who came to colonial America. A story of loss, love, and survival, that is also a story of the early years of the English settlement of Virginia
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"Brilliant, Highly-Imaginative And Vivid"
“History comes alive in this brilliant, highly-imaginative and vivid novel. Immersive and revelatory–a stellar achievement.”
— E.C. Osondo
Winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing
Author of This House Is Not For Sale
"Memorable characters ... warmth and wit"
“Filled with memorable characters , The East Indian grapples with the brutal colonialism and indentured labour of the 1600s with warmth and wit.”
— Shashi Tharoor
Author of Inglorious Empire
Former UN Under-Secretary General.
"Utterly Enjoyable"
“Tony, the “East Indian” of the title of Brinda Charry’s utterly enjoyable debut novel, reads like a character straight out of Dickens.
Based on an actual historical figure, the first person from India documented in the records of Colonial Virginia, Tony ventures into the entangled richness of a nascent America—a place he calls, “this precarious edge of the world.” It is peopled by “servants”—both white and black, female and male—who find themselves as bound to the New World as they are to the Englishmen who rule it. Picaresque in style, lyrical of voice, gripping and authentic, The East Indian is a real treat.”
— David Wright Falade
Author of Black Cloud Rising