The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love
WINNER OF THE MARCO POLO OUTSTANDING GENERAL TRAVEL THEMED BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2018 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS
The story begins in a public square in New Delhi. On a cold December evening a young European woman of noble descent appears before an Indian street artist known locally as PK and asks him to paint her portrait - it is an encounter that will change their lives irrevocably.
PK was not born in the city. He grew up in a small remote village on the edge of the jungle in East India, and his childhood as an untouchable was one of crushing hardship. He was forced to sit outside the classroom during school, would watch classmates wash themselves if they came into contact with him, and had stones thrown at him when he approached the village temple. According to the priests, PK dirtied everything that was pure and holy. But had PK not been an untouchable, his life would have turned out very differently.
This is the remarkable true story of how love and courage led PK to overcome extreme poverty, caste prejudice and adversity - as well as a 7,000-mile, adventure-filled journey across continents and cultures - to be with the woman he loved.
Translation copyright © Anna Holmwood, 2017
"1124519383"
The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love
WINNER OF THE MARCO POLO OUTSTANDING GENERAL TRAVEL THEMED BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2018 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS
The story begins in a public square in New Delhi. On a cold December evening a young European woman of noble descent appears before an Indian street artist known locally as PK and asks him to paint her portrait - it is an encounter that will change their lives irrevocably.
PK was not born in the city. He grew up in a small remote village on the edge of the jungle in East India, and his childhood as an untouchable was one of crushing hardship. He was forced to sit outside the classroom during school, would watch classmates wash themselves if they came into contact with him, and had stones thrown at him when he approached the village temple. According to the priests, PK dirtied everything that was pure and holy. But had PK not been an untouchable, his life would have turned out very differently.
This is the remarkable true story of how love and courage led PK to overcome extreme poverty, caste prejudice and adversity - as well as a 7,000-mile, adventure-filled journey across continents and cultures - to be with the woman he loved.
Translation copyright © Anna Holmwood, 2017
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The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love

The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love

by Per J Andersson

Narrated by Maanuv Thiara

Unabridged — 7 hours, 23 minutes

The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love

The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love

by Per J Andersson

Narrated by Maanuv Thiara

Unabridged — 7 hours, 23 minutes

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Overview

WINNER OF THE MARCO POLO OUTSTANDING GENERAL TRAVEL THEMED BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE 2018 EDWARD STANFORD TRAVEL WRITING AWARDS
The story begins in a public square in New Delhi. On a cold December evening a young European woman of noble descent appears before an Indian street artist known locally as PK and asks him to paint her portrait - it is an encounter that will change their lives irrevocably.
PK was not born in the city. He grew up in a small remote village on the edge of the jungle in East India, and his childhood as an untouchable was one of crushing hardship. He was forced to sit outside the classroom during school, would watch classmates wash themselves if they came into contact with him, and had stones thrown at him when he approached the village temple. According to the priests, PK dirtied everything that was pure and holy. But had PK not been an untouchable, his life would have turned out very differently.
This is the remarkable true story of how love and courage led PK to overcome extreme poverty, caste prejudice and adversity - as well as a 7,000-mile, adventure-filled journey across continents and cultures - to be with the woman he loved.
Translation copyright © Anna Holmwood, 2017

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Liesl Schillinger

To read [PK's] biography, The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love…is to absorb a feel-good story that's so feel-good it makes other feel-good stories feel bad.

Publishers Weekly

01/16/2017
Andersson, a cofounder of the Swedish travel magazine Vagabond, chronicles the life of an Indian man known as PK, an “untouchable” whose ambitions and accomplishments soar far beyond the confines set by the strict caste system into which he is born. At PK’s birth, a village astrologer predicts that he “will marry a girl from far, far away.” Andersson paints an intimate, authoritative picture of PK’s quest to fulfill this prophecy, often filled with sumptuous prose: on a hot day in New Delhi, “the asphalt” is “English toffee” under “lead-colored clouds.” When PK does encounter Lotta, who has left her native Sweden to travel the world, readers immediately recognize the woman from the prophecy. This is not a work of suspense, though PK’s poverty, occasional homelessness, and suicide attempts provide moments of tension; rather, it is a romance, a travelogue, and a cultural critique. PK’s determination fuels the tale: he leaves his boyhood in the jungle to become a “famous painter” who undertakes a bicycle trip to Sweden after he meets Lotta. As Andersson writes, PK begins his journey “on two wheels, powered by grit, tenacity, and... love.” This determination is more than enough to keep readers enthralled. (Mar.)

Daily Mail

‘Charming...epic...a journey repeatedly facilitated by the kindness of strangers, but also fraught with danger and pitfalls...[a] 7,000-mile journey across continents, lasting almost five months – all in the name of love.’

Booklist

'A beautiful, epic tale of love and perseverance.'

Grazia

‘A must-read because you won’t find any other love story that is so beautiful, touching, and – above all – true’

National Geographic’s Best Books of 2017

'A wonderful love story.'

author of The Baby Ganesh Detective Agency Series Vaseem Khan

‘[This] is one of those genuinely illuminating stories that come along once in a while. At heart an against-all-odds love story, this wonderful book does so much to explain why Indian society is the way it is. The story of PK, growing up an 'untouchable' at a time when such labels should have been abolished, is touching, harrowing and ultimately enlightening. The writing is humorous and tender, the cast of characters joyous, and best of all – it's all true.’

New York Times Book Review

'A feel-good story that’s so feel-good it makes other feel-good stories feel bad.'

National Geographics Best Books of 2017

'A wonderful love story.'

National Geographic’s Best Books of 2017

'A wonderful love story.'

Daily Mail

‘Charming...epic...a journey repeatedly facilitated by the kindness of strangers, but also fraught with danger and pitfalls...[a] 7,000-mile journey across continents, lasting almost five months – all in the name of love.’

Booklist

'A beautiful, epic tale of love and perseverance.'

From the Publisher

A romance, a travelogue, and a cultural critique… filled with sumptuous prose. [PK’s] determination is more than enough to keep readers enthralled.”


— Publishers Weekly


"Positive thinking is a power that Pradyumna Kumar harnesses at an early age. Born into the Harijan (untouchable) caste in a small town in eastern India, Kumar faces discrimination yet rises above the harassment. He receives an art scholarship to a prestigious school in Delhi, but his money is siphoned off by a corrupt bureaucrat, leaving him hungry and homeless. Kumar supports himself during art school by drawing portraits of people in a public square. Befriending everyone he meets, including the police, a Russian cosmonaut, and Western hippies, Kumar develops an extensive network of friends. Eventually, he paints Lotta, a serious young woman from Sweden, and falls instantly in love. They have a monthlong romance before Lotta returns to Sweden on a VW bus. A few months later, Kumar embarks on a bicycle journey from India to Sweden to rejoin Lotta. Journalist Andersson (cofounder of Swedish travel magazine Vagabond) and translator Holmwood explain how Kumar relies on his connections and his art to find his one true love. VERDICT Part biography, part travelog, and part love story, this book will appeal to the optimistic, the romantic, and the armchair traveler. This is a story of human connection that spans continents, class, and race.


—Library Journal

“Swedish travel-journalist Andersson tells a story of adventure, transcendence, and, best of all, uncompromising love. Born under a rainbow, Pradyumna Kumar, known as PK, grew up poor but was prophesied for greatness in spite of the limitations of his caste. An astrologer foretold that PK would study, work with color, marry a girl not from the village, not even from India; that she would also be an artist, and would, improbably, own a jungle. Before beginning school, PK had no understanding of the caste system that both defined and excluded him. He and his family were Dalit, the so-called untouchables. After surviving many years of prejudice, PK attends art school in the 1970s, always pushed along by the prophecy. He earns acclaim drawing portraits in a park, which is where he meets a Swedish woman, Charlotte von Schendin. Love blooms quickly, but Lotta must return home. With nothing but his meager art supplies and his secondhand bicycle, PK sets out across Asia, bound for Sweden and the woman he loves. A beautiful, epic tale of love and perseverance.”


—Booklist

Library Journal

02/15/2017
Positive thinking is a power that Pradyumna Kumar harnesses at an early age. Born into the Harijan (untouchable) caste in a small town in eastern India, Kumar faces discrimination yet rises above the harassment. He receives an art scholarship to a prestigious school in Delhi, but his money is siphoned off by a corrupt bureaucrat, leaving him hungry and homeless. Kumar supports himself during art school by drawing portraits of people in a public square. Befriending everyone he meets, including the police, a Russian cosmonaut, and Western hippies, Kumar develops an extensive network of friends. Eventually, he paints Lotta, a serious young woman from Sweden, and falls instantly in love. They have a monthlong romance before Lotta returns to Sweden on a VW bus. A few months later, Kumar embarks on a bicycle journey from India to Sweden to rejoin Lotta. Journalist Andersson (cofounder of Swedish travel magazine Vagabond) and translator Holmwood explain how Kumar relies on his connections and his art to find his one true love. VERDICT Part biography, part travelog, and part love story, this book will appeal to the optimistic, the romantic, and the armchair traveler. This is a story of human connection that spans continents, class, and race.—Beth Dalton, Littleton, CO

Product Details

BN ID: 2940171222666
Publisher: QUEST from W. F. Howes Ltd
Publication date: 11/22/2018
Edition description: Unabridged
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