Novelist Vikram Seth, who is writing a sequel to A Suitable Boy, may not name his new book A Suitable Girl as everyone was led to believe. It could even be named An Unsuitable Boy. “I wrote A Suitable Boy many years ago and it was
set in India in the early 1950s when the British had just left. A few years ago, I thought to myself, ‘well you know, part of the reason why you have not followed it up is because you think it will be a bit boring and obvious going back to the 1950s and delve into newspapers and research... Why don’t you write about the present’. In other words, it is a sequel but a jump sequel — 60 years on,” he said in a recent interview to the Daily Telegraph in London. The sequel revolves around Lata — who was 20 in A Suitable Boy and is now 80. “Lata was 20 years old then, (she) is now 80,” calculated Seth. “So it is not just India (that) has changed, but the aspect of the full life lived, look back upon, look forward to as well; and may be it’s for her grandson who can’t communicate with his parents for one reason or another, but can talk to his grandmother — (his) confidante — talk to her about a suitable girl,” he said. “Indeed, that’s what’s on the cards on him. But I have not decided whether I should call it A Suitable Girl or An Unsuitable Boy, which could be another possible sequel title,” he said. A Suitable Boy written in 1993 was contexted in post-Independence India. It followed the destinies of four families. Sources say Penguin which acquired the rights to the sequel with a bid of £1 million in advance might also contribute to the name of the title. — IANS