Quote by Anita Desai: “Sisters are a shelter and a storm, both at once.”

A relationship with a sister can be the safest place you know and the source of your deepest conflict — sometimes in the same afternoon. This captures the particular intensity of sibling bonds: no one knows you better, which means no one can offer more comfort or inflict more pain.

Clear Light of Day was published in 1980 and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Set in Old Delhi over several time periods, the novel explored the complicated bond between two sisters against the backdrop of Partition and Indian independence, examining how history shapes the most intimate human relationships.

Indian novelist and short story writer, born in Mussoorie in 1937, and three-time Booker Prize shortlistee. Her novels — including Clear Light of Day, Baumgartner's Bombay, and In Custody — explore the inner lives of women and the textures of post-independence Indian society with psychological precision.