Em and the big hoom

‘A marvellous debut, sensitive, livened by crystal-cut prose and Pinto’s trademark mordant humour. This is the best Indian novel in years.’—Prayaag Akbar, The Sunday Guardian‘Em and the Big Hoom is a beautiful book, a child's-eye view of madness and sorrow, full of love, pain, and, unaccountably, much wild comedy. One of the very best books to come out of India in a long, long time.’—Salman RushdieEm and the Big Hoom recently won The Hindu Literary Prize 2012. It was also longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.In a one-bedroom-hall-kitchen in Mahim Bombay, Imelda Mendes–Em to her children–holds her family in thrall with her flamboyance, her compelling imagination, her unspoken love, her sometimes cruel candour. Through this, her husband, to whom she was once ‘buttercup’, her son and daughter learn to cope with her mania and her frequent wish to die.A searing, and at times darkly funny, study of mental illness, Jerry Pinto’s first novel is also a deeply moving story about love and family relationships.About the authorJerry Pinto lives and works in Mumbai. He has been a mathematics tutor, school librarian, journalist and columnist. He is now associated with MelJol, an NGO that works in the sphere of child rights. His published works include a book of poems, Asylum, and Helen: The Life and Times of an H-Bomb, which won the National Award for the Best Book on Cinema in 2007. Em and the Big Hoom is his first novel.