US-based Indian author debuts with record advance

Sarita Mandanna, a US-based Indian author, has created ripples in the publishing world as her "Tiger Hills" has received the largest advance Penguin India house has so far paid for a debut novel.

Sarita Mandanna, a US-based Indian author, has created ripples in the publishing world as her "Tiger Hills" has received the largest advance Penguin India house has so far paid for a debut novel.

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David Godwin Associates Ltd, the Britain-based literary agency, has sold "Tiger Hills" to Penguin Books-India for an undisclosed amount.

David Godwin Associates spokesperson Sophie Hoult refused to divulge the exact amount but said the deal was in seven figures.

Hoult said "Tiger Hills", "a sweeping popular novel set in India between 1878 and the Second World War, was a cross between an Indian version of 'The Thornbirds' and 'Gone with the Wind'".

Penguin Books-India in New Delhi confirmed they had the book. "We are every excited about it," Hemali Sodhi, general manager of Penguin Books-India's marketing department, told IANS on Tuesday.

"It is a sweeping popular narrative which also has elements of romance in it. Her style of writing is wonderful and the manuscript has been creating a flutter ever since it came to us. The whole period sweep of the book makes it a page-turner," Sodhi said.

Mandanna, an investment banker, works for a large corporate house in New York. She would make a public appearance at the ongoing London Book Fair.