The Village – By Nikita Lalwani

Reading and travelling are two of life’s great pleasures. Our Partnership with Random House Canada celebrates both. Our well-read friends have provided us with book excerpts and reading recommendations that will transport you to some of Fairmont’s most idyllic destinations. Go ahead, get comfortable and lose yourself in the pages.

Nikita Lalwani was born in Rajasthan and raised in Cardiff. Her first novel, Gifted, was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and won the Desmond Elliot Prize for New Fiction. Nikita was also shortlisted for the 2008 Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. She lives in London.

After a long journey from England, Ray Bhullar arrives early on a winter morning at the gates of a remote Indian village called Ashwer which will be her home for the next three months. The door of the hut she will share with Serena, her English co-worker, is a loose sheet of metal, the windows simple holes in the walls. Beyond the lockless door, village life goes on as usual. And yet, the village is anything but normal. Despite the domestic chores being carried out, cooking, fetching water and sewing and laundering linens, Ashwer is a village of murderers, an experimental open prison. And when Ray and her crew take up residence, to observe and to make a documentary, it seems that they are innocent visitors into a violent world, on a mission to hold the place up to viewers as the ultimate example of tolerance. But the longer Ray and her colleagues stay and their need for drama intensifies, the line between innocence and guilt begins to blur and an unexpected and terrifying new kind of cruelty emerges. A mesmerizing and heartfelt tale of manipulation and personal morality, Nikita Lalwani's new novel brilliantly exposes how truly frail our moral judgment can be.

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Fairmont Jaipur

Jaipur, the “Pink City” and the stunning capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan, is a hub for tourists and visitors from all over the world, looking to explore and discover a history that is rich and vibrant even today, evident in the city's breathtaking forts and palaces. Tranquil gardens and broad avenues, which were painted pink in 1876 to welcome the Prince of Wales, add to the historic charm and rich culture of this unforgettable city.

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