The Householder

A young man struggles with his new marriage and career in this India-set comic novel from a Booker Prize–winning author and Oscar-winning screenwriter.

According to the ancient writings there are three stages in a man's life: first he is a child; then he is a student; after that comes the life of a householder, when a man must raise a family and see to their needs.

This witty and perceptive novel is about Prem, a young teacher in New Delhi who has just become a householder and is finding his responsibilities perplexing.

“Deliciously droll, wickedly irreverent, and altogether most satisfying.” —The New York Times Book Review

“All the figures in this book . . . are irresistible comic manifestations. And they are fashioned in a prose that seems, without exertion, to have written itself.” —The New Yorker

“In this small, perfect comic novel Jhabvala captures her earnest young hero with a deft and delicious wit reminiscent of Jane Austen.” —National Book Award–winning author Andrea Barrett