Prem Rustom is a reclusive writer and Nobel laureate who is now reaching that dreaded stage when his writing and life both seem to be going precisely nowhere. He ventures online with the encouragement of a fellow writer and septuagenarian. In an Internet forum, he meets Maya, young and suitably worshipful of his work and illustrious career, and attempting to embark on a writing life of her own. A real-time meeting follows, and we're off. It's hard to imagine that a passionate relationship could possibly ensue from a question like "Do you think desire can be totally arbitrary?" but that is exactly what happens. And manages to seem credible, in the quick page-turns characteristic of Dawesar's work (e.g., Babyji). The story rushes recklessly along through lavish sex scenes past and present, and the cluttered detail of its mostly Parisian setting, book-ended between a New York opening and finish.

As Maya and Rustom begin to verge on a relationship, Rustom's ruminations on the women in his life lead us to his incestuous relationship with his sister Meher, a love he sees as "pure" and looks back upon with nostalgia. Ironic narrative voice saves this and related issues from becoming completely maudlin. Pascal, Rustom's writer friend of bawdy repartee and generous spirit, and Judith Q, stalker fan extraordinaire are two of the memorable characters in the pages of this novel.

Questions of trust and morality, and the traps the writer sets to trap himself-of these Dawesar writes with an assured confidence and deft pacing. The combination goes a long way, which is just as well, since the prose, occasionally uneven, renders up such clunkers as "her internal organs lurched within her body cavity." Still, the dark humor is provocative and clever, as are the particularities about weaving life, truth, and falsehood into fiction.

Book Description: Prem Rustum, a celebrated aging Indian novelist, unexpectedly meets Maya, a vibrant aspiring writer, and surprises himself by following her to Paris. In the slow, sensuous summer that follows, Prem looks back on his muses, his art, and his lost loves. Maya's presence brings Prem into direct confrontation with his mortality and desires. As he struggles anew with the eternal question of love, Prem's longstanding friendship with Pascal, a fellow writer, illuminates them both in the final chapter of their lives. That Summer in Paris reflects on how art informs love and love, literature.