The Last of Earth

A Novel

By: Deepa Anappara

Narrated by: Rea Malhotra Mukhtyar

From the award-winning author of Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line comes a “splendid” (The New York Times) novel set in nineteenth-century Tibet that follows two outsiders—an Indian schoolteacher spying for the British Empire and an English “lady” explorer—as they venture into a forbidden kingdom.

“An epic, perilous odyssey . . . scrupulous in its excavation of our spooky, imperfect pasts.”—The Guardian

1869. Tibet is closed to Europeans, an infuriating obstruction for the rap­idly expanding British Empire. In response, Britain begins training Indians—permitted to cross borders that white men may not—to undertake illicit, dangerous surveying expeditions into Tibet.

Balram is one such surveyor-spy, an Indian schoolteacher who, for several years, has worked for the British, often alongside his dearest friend, Gyan. But Gyan went missing on his last expedition and is rumored to be imprisoned within Tibet. Desperate to rescue his friend, Balram agrees to guide an English captain on a foolhardy mission: After years of paying others to do the exploring, the captain, disguised as a monk, wants to personally chart a river that runs through southern Tibet. Their path will cross fatefully with that of another Westerner in disguise, fifty-year-old Katherine. Denied a fellowship in the all-male Royal Geographical Society in London, she intends to be the first European woman to reach Lhasa.

As Balram and Katherine make their way into Tibet, they will face storms and bandits, snow leopards and soldiers, fevers and frostbite. What’s more, they will have to battle their own doubts, ambitions, grief, and pasts in order to survive the treacherous landscape.

A polyphonic novel about the various ways humans try to leave a mark on the world—from the enduring nature of family and friendship to the egomania and obsessions of the colonial enterprise—The Last of Earth confirms Deepa Anappara as one of our greatest and most ambitious storytellers.

Excellent Reading

I found the narrator’s soothing voice perfect for describing the ethereal landscape, as well as the surreal impressions that the characters were experiencing throughout. Her accent was perfect for the content, which involved British colonialists and their South Asian subjects.

Narrator spoils it!

It is very difficult to evaluate this story, because the narration is so poorly done that I am only able to make out 50% of the words. It seems like it might be beautifully written. It seems like it might be an interesting story. But it needs to be re-recorded and so I might need to return it. The narrator has a beautiful voice and is from Bombay. She speaks with a heavy accent, which is not the issue. I listen to books narrated by people from other English-speaking countries all the time, and I love and understand accents. I honestly can’t tell if the problem is with the sound engineering or Mukhtyar’s voicing, but she swallows the ends of about half her words. She enunciates the beginning syllable but let’s the rest of the word trail off. Sometimes the rest of the sentence. She speaks in breathy, quiet tones and I find it nearly impossible to follow what she is saying. I listen to 30 books a year and I can hear all of them just fine. I tested this one on a different sound system. Same problem. Turned the volume way up. Same problem. It needs to be fixed.

Terrific!

(I listened to this while painting landscapes in New Mexico) vivid very relatable characters, lyrical structure, beautiful and moving story. Best read this year.