I was recently thinking about my favourite read of all-time. Now, I know some people never reread a book. They enjoy it once, and that is enough time for them in that world where the story is fresh and new, and each page takes you into the unknown. I love that too, but I also cherish going back into a familiar landscape.

I have re-read Pride & Prejudice times too many to count, as have so many others. Another favourite is the trio that comprises the first three books in JD Robb’s In Death series. There are a few others that I’ve pulled from the shelf with a satisfied sigh as I anticipate revisiting the land between the pages.

However, there is a book that I have reached for time and time again. At 1,488 pages, and over 590,000 words, it isn’t for the faint-hearted, it has a vast cast of characters and, sometimes, not much is happening. Instead, you are immersed in the minutia of another world to the extent that you have to take a moment to blink and recall yourself back into the real world. And what is this tome?

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth was published in 1993. Hailed as a modern-day classic, this feast of a book that transports you to India as that country, and its people, adjust to independence.

A modern classic, this epic tale of families, romance and political intrigue never loses its power to delight and enchant readers.
Vikram Seth’s novel is, at its core, a love story: the tale of Lata – and her mother’s – attempts to find her a suitable husband, through love or exacting maternal appraisal. At the same time, it is the story of India, newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis as a sixth of the world’s population faces its first great general election and the chance to map its own destiny.

Lata’s elder sister has just entered into an arranged marriage, and it is now Lata’s turn to move to the next stage in her life. The large cast is finely drawn and keenly depicted but there is one unforgettable character that rises above all others – and that is India itself. Vikram Seth has not only painted a vivid portrait of the land itself, but he also tantalises each of your senses, as does India.

I probably read the book around 1994, but it wasn’t until over a decade later that I travelled to India. I hadn’t chosen to go there. I was on business and going where I had to be. I didn’t spare a passing thought to Seth’s world until I was in a taxi en-route to my hotel from Mumbai Airport. It was 4 a.m., and I was struggling to take everything in. A rush of heat had blasted me as I waited for my car. The place was crazy. Heat, smells and sound coalesced into a distracting mass. I stared through the car window, suddenly wide awake, as we passed crowds of people, going about their business at this, to me, unsociable hour.

The colours of India, seen in the landscape and clothing, will stay with me forever, bright pinks, startlingly vivid greens, the blue of the sky and the vibrant reds and yellows of flowers.

I was incredibly lucky that one of my colleagues, a Mumbai resident, offered to show me something of the city. His driver was at my disposal, and he kindly acted as my guide. We drove through mobbed streets as he pointed out the architecture, ranging from gargoyle-topped gothic facades to the faded grandeur of classical art-deco delights. We strolled along the promenade, which overlooks the Arabian Sea, and stood, with the picture-taking crowds, as we faced the monumental archway that is the Gateway of India. My guide recalled being a small boy and watching the ceremonial procession of the last British Troops, as they exited India through this Gateway in 1948.

The sun was starting to set, but the crowds were in no way diminishing. If anything the activity increased as the crowds swelled with meandering couples, happy families and groups of teenagers. I headed back to the airport with some extraordinary memories.

I travelled to India many times after that first visit and ventured to Dehli and Bangalore, all such different cities, but nothing will ever replace my first sight of this fascinating land.

Twenty-five years later and Vikram Seth has written a sequel. A Suitable Girl is due to be published next June in hardback, with the paperback out in January 2019. Can I wait that long? No, so I will be treating myself to the hardback, and why not, it is hopefully another book I will cherish and re-read for many years to come.