When the Time is Right

Buddhadeva Bose’s greatest novel When the Time Is Right is a grand family saga set in Calcutta during the last two decades of British rule. Of Rajen Mitra’s five lovely daughters, it is the youngest—the beautiful, intelligent Swati—who is the apple of her father’s eye. As she grows from an impetuous, spirited child to a lonely young woman, Swati is witness to the upheavals and joys of the Mitra family even as the country slides towards the promise of independence and the inevitability of war.