"The Immortals" by Amit Chaudhuri.

About the book:

Shyamji has music in his blood, for his father was the acclaimed 'heavenly singer' and guru, Ram Lal. But Shyam Lal is not his father, and knows he never will be. Mallika Sengupta's voice could have made her famous, but being the wife of a successful businessman is a full-time occupation in itself. Mallika's son, Nirmalya, believes in suffering for his art, and for him, all compromise is failure: those with talent should be true to that talent. No matter what.

Written in haunting, melodic prose, The Immortals tells the story - or stories - of Shyam, Mallika and Nirmalya: their relationships, their lives, their music. More than that, though, it is the story of music itself, of music as art, and an exploration of its place in the modern world of money and commerce. It is also the most considerable achievement to date of this much-lauded and prize-winning writer.

About the author :

Amit Chaudhuri was born in Calcutta in 1962 and brought up in Bombay. He is a graduate of UCL and Oxford, was a Fellow at both Oxford and Cambridge and is now Professor in Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia. He was recently made Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has published four previous novels, a collection of short stories, and his work has appeared in leading international publications including Granta and the New Yorker. He is a judge of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize, shortlist to be announced in March.

Amit Chaudhuri is also an acclaimed musician and singer. He is trained in the Hindustani classical tradition and has performed in India, London and New York; a CD of his khayals - Classics from the Kunwar Shyam Gharana - is available on the HMV label. In 2004, Chaudhuri conceptualised a project in experimental music, 'This Is Not Fusion', and the ensemble have performed extensively, the only Indians musicians to have performed at the London Jazz Festival in November 2008. The CD 'This Is Not Fusion' came out to great acclaim in 2007 and the follow up is released in May 2009. Amit Chaudhuri lives with his wife and daughter in Kolkata.