They all broke the rules They all crossed into forbidden territory They all tampered with the laws that lay down who should be loved & how & how much' This is the story of Rahel & Estha twins growing up among the banana vats & peppercorns of their blind grandmother's factory & amid scenes of political turbulence in Kerala Armed only with the innocence of youth they fashion a childhood in the shade of the wreck that is their family their lonely lovely mother their beloved Uncle Chacko (pickle baron radical Marxist bottom-pincher) & their sworn enemy Baby Kochamma (ex-nun incumbent gr&-aunt) Arundhati Roy's Booker Prize-winning novel was the literary sensation of the 1990s a story anchored to anguish but fuelled by wit & magic