Two Lives

A Memoir

By: Vikram Seth

Narrated by: Vikram Seth

""The heartrending story of a two people, a marriage, and a century from the author of A Suitable Boy. . . . “[A] thoughtful, evocative, moving book.”—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World

Two Lives is an extraordinary tapestry of India, the Third Reich and the Second World War, Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Israel and Palestine, postwar Germany and 1970s Britain. Part biography, part memoir, part meditation on our times, here is a masterful work from one of our greatest living writers.

In this magnificent, tender story, Vikram Seth offers both a history of a violent century as well as an intimate portrait of an unlikely friendship, marriage, and abiding yet complex love: that of his beloved uncle, Shanti Behari Seth, an immigrant from India, and his aunt, Helga Gerda Caro, a German Jew who was forced to flee her homeland by the Nazis.

With Two Lives, Seth has written ""a truly heroic tale which demonstrates just how much can sometimes be achieved against monstrous odds."" (Washington Times)

©2005 Vikram Seth; (P)2005 TimeWarnerUK

Timely or timeless?

This story hit me at a time when the world news could be seen with a different lens...
When the student is ready the teacher will appear.

Exceptional and timely

I cannot recommend this book enough. Mr. Seth does such a beautiful tribute to his own work—an excellent performance of the work. The themes and the narrative string were so perfect, perfectly written. I am so grateful this story exists and that Mr. Seth wrote it.

A lyrical memoir

This was a beautiful, lyrical memoir about the author's beloved uncle and aunt, who came from very different countries and backgrounds (India and Germany, respectively) and who both survived WWII. Their experiences were very different and yet uniting. I recommend this book for people who like thoughtful, lyrical writing and are curious about the lives and experiences of others, both joyful and tragic.

Two Lives

A lovely and thoughtful book. It has a close-up, personal view of WW2 comparable to that in Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.

Excellent!

I really enjoyed this book - it gives a perspective on the writer, Vikram Seth, and is a compelling story about the lives of 2 very different people, brought together by a war. The format is the letters of Shanti and Henny to each other, and their friends. It gives a very realistic view of what life was like during and after the war as well, which was very unsettling - to see the effects on ordinary people. If you like memoirs, you should like this book. The reading is also done very well, with 3 different readers contributing.