{"product_id":"153742915_product","title":"Akash Kapur - Better To Have Gone : Love, Death and the Quest for Utop","description":"New Store Stock\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this Item\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe item is a book Paperback\u003cbr\u003eThe Author Name is Akash Kapur\u003cbr\u003eThe Title is Better To Have Gone : Love, Death and the Quest for Utopia in Auroville\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCondition New\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOther Comments\u003cbr\u003eNew Store Stock\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eProduct Description -\u003cbr\u003e'Beautifully written and structured, deeply moving, and realised in wise, thoughtful, chiselled prose... it is that rarity: a genuine non-fiction classic' William Dalrymple'A troubling and moving account of lives gone wrong in the search for an eastern Utopia' Damon Galgut, author of the Booker Prize-winning The PromiseA spellbinding story about love, faith, the search for utopia - and the often devastating cost of idealism.   It's the late 1960s, and two lovers converge on an arid patch of earth in South India.\r\n\r\n John Walker is the handsome scion of a powerful East Coast American family. Diane Maes is a beautiful hippie from Belgium. They have come to build a new world - Auroville, an international utopian community for thousands of people.\r\n\r\n Their faith is strong, the future bright.   So how do John and Diane end up dying two decades later, on the same day, on a cracked concrete floor in a thatch hut by a remote canyon? This is the mystery Akash Kapur sets out to solve in Better to Have Gone, and it carries deep personal resonance: Diane and John were the parents of Akash's wife, Auralice. Akash and Auralice grew up in Auroville  like the rest of their community, they never really understood those deaths.\r\n\r\n   In 2004, Akash and Auralice return to Auroville from New York, where they have been living with John's family. As they re-establish themselves, along with their two sons, in the community, they must confront the ghosts of those distant deaths. Slowly, they come to understand how the tragic individual fates of John and Diane intersected with the collective history of their town.\r\n\r\n   Better to Have Gone is a book about the human cost of our age-old quest for a more perfect world. It probes the under-explored yet universal idea of utopia, and it portrays in vivid detail the daily life of one utopian community. Richly atmospheric and filled with remarkable characters, spread across time and continents, this is narrative writing of the highest order - a heartbreaking, unforgettable story.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen possible we will add details of the items we are selling to help buyers know what is included in the item for sale. The details are provided automatically from our central master database and can sometimes be wrong.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBooks are released in many editions and variations, such as standard edition, re-issue, not for sale, promotional, special edition, limited edition, and many other editions and versions.  The Book you receive could be any of these editions or variations. If you are looking for a specific edition or version please contact us to verify what we are selling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGift Ideas\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThis is a great gift idea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHours of Service\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe have many warehouses, some of the warehouses process orders seven days a week, but the Administration Support Staff are located at a head office location, outside of the warehouses, and typically work only Monday to Friday.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eLocation ID 245z\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eiHaveit SKU ID 174104412\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title \/ unisex","offer_id":45351544619252,"sku":"174104412","price":10.37,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/ihaveitmarketplace.com\/products\/153742915_product","provider":"iHaveit","version":"1.0","type":"link"}