The Room On The Roof/Vagrants In The Valley Two Novels Of Adolescence (P)

The Room On The Roof - Literary Awards - John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (1957).
The Room on the Roof is Ruskin Bond’s masterpiece of adolescence and coming of age. Written when the author was seventeen, it brilliantly describes the hopes and passions that capture young minds and hearts. A moving tale of love and friendship, it has endured as Bond’s most beloved novel. Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned, and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted . . . and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.
Poignant, heart-warming and an absolute classic, this book is forever a joy to read.
Vagrants In The Valley - In Vagrants in the Valley which picks up from where the first book ends, Rusty is joined in his travels by Kishen, another 'runaway.' As they venture further into the unknown, they discover new friends and participate in more escapades but also begin to understand the coplexities of growing up and the boundaries that cricumscribe even the freest spirits. Sharply observed, witty and wise, haunted on every page by the sights, smells and sounds of India, this evocation of youth, innocence and friendship will be read for a long time to come with deep, lasting pleasure.