Published to extraordinary acclaim, The Inheritance of Loss heralds Kiran Desai as one of our most insightful novelists. She illuminates the pain of exile and the ambiguities of postcolonialism with a tapestry of colorful characters: an embittered old judge; Sai, his sixteen-year-old orphaned granddaughter; a chatty cook; and the cook’s son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one miserable New York restaurant to another, trying to stay a step ahead of the INS. When a Nepalese insurgency in the mountains threatens Sai’s new-sprung romance with her handsome tutor, their lives descend into chaos. The cook witnesses India’s hierarchy being overturned and discarded. The judge revisits his past and his role in Sai and Biju’s intertwining lives. A story of depth and emotion, hilarity and imagination, The Inheritance of Loss tells a story of love, family, and loss.

基兰·德赛，1971年出生于印度，15岁时定居英国，目前是美国哥伦比亚大学写作班的一名学生。德赛的母亲阿妮塔·德赛也是非常知名的作家，她自1980年起就曾三次进入布克奖的总决选名单，可惜从未折桂。阿妮塔曾经劝说女儿不要进入这个行列，理由是写作太难。而女儿最终以自己的成就给予母亲最大的安慰和回报。基兰·德赛的处女作《番石榴园的喧哗》曾受到各方的一致赞誉。2006年她凭借第二部长篇小说《失落》（The Inheritance of Loss，又译为《失落之遗产》）获得布克奖，成为有史以来赢得该奖项的最年轻的女作家。