David Davidar (b. 1959) was born in Kerala into a military family. He is a graduate of Madras University. In his mid-twenties, he moved to Bombay to pursue journalism, before changing over to publishing. He completed a course in publishing from Radcliffe/Harvard. David Davidar is best known as the head of Penguin India, who turned around its publishing program from a mere six titles in 1987 to 150 titles annually. In 2004, he relocated to Penguin Canada and is now based in Toronto.The House of Blue Mangoes is his debut novel, a voluminous work chronicling multiple generations set in deep southern India.

His Work

• The House of Blue Mangoes

The House of Blue Mangoes is sweeping, epic and an ambitious tome which chronicles three generations of the Dorai clan. It covers the period 1899-1947, a momentous period that witnessed the fall of the British Raj, the turmoil of caste wars, the rise of Gandhi, and the culmination of independence.

The story focuses on the Dorai men, and the inescapable conflicts between father and son that tragically play out each generation, from Solomon to Daniel to Kannan. Passionate affairs, assassinations, caste wars, and household acrimony are inextricably linked to the Dorai family home—the house of blue mangoes of the title—in the seaside village of Chevathar. No matter how far members of the clan may travel, they are always drawn back to their ancestral land.