Set in the mid-1970s in India, A Fine Balance tells the story of four unlikely people whose lives come together during a time of political turmoil soon after the government declares a s tate of Internal Emergency . Through days of bleakness and hope, their circumstances - and their fates - become inextricably linked in ways no one could have foreseen. Written with compassion, humour and insight, A Fine Balance is a vivid, richly textured and powerful novel by one of the most gifted writers of our time.