Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
"A romance, a travelogue, and a cultural critique... filled with sumptuous prose. PK's] determination is more than enough to keep readers enthralled."
-- Publishers Weekly "This book will appeal to the optimistic, the romantic, and the armchair traveler. This is a story of human connection that spans continents, class, and race."
--Library Journal
Pradyumna Kumar, known as PK, was born into a poor, untouchable family in a small village in eastern India. All his life he has kept a palm leaf bearing an astrologer's prophecy: "You will marry a girl who is not from the village, not from the district, not even from our country; she will be musical, own a jungle and be born under the sign of the ox." But not until PK attends art school in New Delhi do his stars begin to align. One evening, while drawing portraits in a park, he meets a young Swedish woman, Lotta von Schendin -- and this brief meeting will change the courses of their lives forever.
This is the remarkable true story of how a young Indian man armed with nothing more than a handful of paintbrushes and a secondhand Raleigh bicycle made his way across Asia and Europe in search of the woman he loves.
Synopsis
"A romance, a travelogue, and a cultural critique... filled with sumptuous prose. PK's] determination is more than enough to keep readers enthralled."
-- Publishers Weekly
Pradyumna Kumar, known as PK, was born into a poor, untouchable family in a small village in eastern India. All his life he has kept a palm leaf bearing an astrologer's prophecy: "You will marry a girl who is not from the village, not from the district, not even from our country; she will be musical, own a jungle and be born under the sign of the ox." But not until PK attends art school in New Delhi do his stars begin to align. One evening, while drawing portraits in a park, he meets a young Swedish woman, Lotta von Schendin -- and this brief meeting will change the courses of their lives forever.
This is the remarkable true story of how a young Indian man armed with nothing more than a handful of paintbrushes and a secondhand Raleigh bicycle made his way across Asia and Europe in search of the woman he loves.
Synopsis
WINNER OF THE MARCO POLO OUTSTANDING GENERAL TRAVEL THEMED BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2018 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS The story begins in a public square in New Delhi. On a cold December evening a young European woman of noble descent appears before an Indian street artist known locally as PK and asks him to paint her portrait - it is an encounter that will change their lives irrevocably.
PK was not born in the city. He grew up in a small remote village on the edge of the jungle in East India, and his childhood as an untouchable was one of crushing hardship. He was forced to sit outside the classroom during school, would watch classmates wash themselves if they came into contact with him, and had stones thrown at him when he approached the village temple. According to the priests, PK dirtied everything that was pure and holy. But had PK not been an untouchable, his life would have turned out very differently.
This is the remarkable true story of how love and courage led PK to overcome extreme poverty, caste prejudice and adversity - as well as a 7,000-mile, adventure-filled journey across continents and cultures - to be with the woman he loved.