‘He went to bed that night hoping that his city would be recognizable again by the morning, but fearing that it would not. Let the terror burn itself out, he prayed and then felt the weight of his lack of faith. To whom was he saying this?’
It is 1992 and the Babri Masjid has just been demolished. In Bombay, riots break out and Yuri Fonseca, journalist and aspiring poet, finds his beloved neighbourhood of Mahim is a divided place, with mobs on the hunt. When his household help Mumtaz turns up at his door one night with her young daughter and son, his life is changed in ways he could not have imagined. A single man riding the currents of the big city, he must now ask himself if he can trade freedom for compassion; if he can be brave; if he can love.
Investigating the intimacies of family and friendship, the solidarities that survive betrayal and heartbreak, Yuri and the City is a triumph of storytelling, illuminated with Pinto’s trademark grace notes of humanity and wisdom.
