Srinivas, an elderly Brahmin, has been living in south London suburb for thirty years. After the death of his son, and later his wife, this lonely man is befriended by an Englishwoman in her sixties, whom he takes into his home. The two form a deep and abiding relationship. But the haven they have created for themselves proves to be a fragile one. Racist violence enters their world and Srinivass life changes irrevocably as does his dream of England as a country of tolerance and equality.

First published in 1972,The Nowhere Mandepicts a London convulsed by fear and bitterness. A recent re-appraisal of her work in theParis Reviewsaid: WithThe Nowhere Man, Markandaya wrote a British state of the nation novel whose acuteness and depth of understanding, unsung at the time, resounds eerily today. Truly shocking,The Nowhere Manis as relevant today as when it was first published almost fifty years ago.