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'Two Lives' a personal book: Vikram Seth
Indo-Asian News Service

Chennai, Oct 14 (IANS) Acclaimed writer Vikram Seth described his latest oeuvre "Two Lives", a memoir of the marriage of his great uncle and aunt, as a "personal book".

Reading excerpts from the work in Chennai Thursday night as part of a promotional tour, Seth said: "Yes, it was a personal book." 

"The writing was also a journey of discovery (for me)," said Seth. The book is also part autobiographical as Seth has described the times he spent with his great uncle and his German wife in London as a young boy.

"This is my second book that is not fiction," Seth told the crowd of 200 people who had been invited by Penguin Books.

The Chennai stop is part of a whirlwind five-city hop that also includes Bangalore, Calcutta, Mumbai and the last leg in Delhi.

"This is the book launch of the year," said Thomas Abraham of Penguin. "Penguin has the distinction of publishing all of Vikram's books." 

In his reading from "Two Lives", Seth took listeners back to Hitler's Germany and to old world England.

Covering the period from the 1930s to 1970s, Seth read selected portions from the book that tells the story of an Indian dental surgeon in London, Shanti Behari Seth, and his German wife Henny Gerda Caro. 

Penguin also presented a pre-view of Seth's collection of poetry in a new format, which includes "All You Who Sleep Tonight", the "Golden Gate" and the "Three Chinese Poets", in a new book soon to be available in the Indian market.