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Travelers
In Travelers, Jhabvala examines the unlikely convergence of four wanderers: Asha, an imperious Indian widow, Raymond, a curious Englishman, Lee, an American looking for her spiritual core, and Gopi, an impressionable young student. With a mixture of impassioned dialogue and subtle narrative, Jhabvala examines the psychological and cultural forces that wend their paths into inextricable knots of love and conflict.
252 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
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136 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
57 books186 followersRuth Prawer Jhabvala was a British and American novelist and screenwriter. She is best known for her collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of film director James Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant.
In 1951, she married Indian architect Cyrus Jhabvala and moved to New Delhi. She began then to elaborate her experiences in India and wrote novels and tales on Indian subjects. She wrote a dozen novels, 23 screenplays, and eight collections of short stories and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List of the 1998 New Years Honours and granted a joint fellowship by BAFTA in 2002 with Ivory and Merchant. She is the only person to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar.
In 1951, she married Indian architect Cyrus Jhabvala and moved to New Delhi. She began then to elaborate her experiences in India and wrote novels and tales on Indian subjects. She wrote a dozen novels, 23 screenplays, and eight collections of short stories and was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Diplomatic Service and Overseas List of the 1998 New Years Honours and granted a joint fellowship by BAFTA in 2002 with Ivory and Merchant. She is the only person to have won both a Booker Prize and an Oscar.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 27, 2025
Very much a novel of people trying to ‘find themselves’ in India in the 1970’s. Four people who do not initially know each other meet and have their lives intertwined. Two are British: a thirtyish man who writes home to his mother each day, and woman of similar age who delights in immersing herself in the country and its people by taking long trips on third class buses. Two are Indian; one a man of college age and the other a very wealthy woman, 60-ish who can’t stand the idea that she has lost much of her glamor. She falls in love with the young Indian man.
The young Indian man is caught between old worlds and new: at times going to college and at other times being pressured to take a wife he has never met in an arranged marriage. The young British man falls in love with the Indian man and the Indian man seems unaware, at least initially, that the former is gay.
The second half of the book revolves around the relationship of the group to swamis. (Although written in 1973, that’s recent enough that the author mentions the involvement of the Beatles with swamis.) The British woman goes to live with a male swami; the Indian woman, a female swami. At the ashram huts they pray and sing hymns all day. They sleep on cement floors with flies and bedbugs.
To me, the whole swami experience comes across more as self-debasement than enlightenment. The male swami is anxious to get a reputation and followers in the USA. The middle and end of the book of bog down and gets repetitive with the visits to the swamis as the four main characters visit each other in the two camps in twos and threes.
These quotes that I liked illustrate the writing style and give a flavor of some of the themes of the book:
Of the young British woman: “It was what she had come for: to lose herself in order – as she liked to put it – to find herself.”
“Everyone here eats excessively – those that do eat, I mean.”
“Living with Raymond, he realized that these people [the British] said sorry very quickly, perhaps even took some pleasure in it so that there was no need to forgive them every time.”
“She says people don’t just come anymore to India to do good, those days are over. What they come for now is – well, to do good to themselves, to learn, to take from India.”
“…you’re wasting India, which has such supreme things, such gifts to give those of us ready to take them…”
“Just now the beggars seemed like essential props placed on the steps of the mosque to remind those who were going in to pray of how much there was to pray for.”
“[Western foreigners] pretend to be in search of spiritual values, but because they don’t know what true spiritual values are, they fasten themselves on harmful elements who only help to drive them deeper down into their disturbed egos; and so not only do they themselves suffer bad consequences but also all sorts of poisonous influences are released, polluting the air breathed in by truly spiritual Indians.”
In a couple of scenes we learn about servants and how they try to involve their masters in their private lives. In one scene the Indian woman beats her servant (older than she is) severely and an hour later the servant is singing and massaging her master’s feet. Certainly a fascinating book. I’ll rate it a 3.5 and round up to 4.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read several of her novels and a collection of short stories. Below are links to my reviews of other books by her:
Heat and Dust
A Backward Place
Out of India – Selected Stories
The author (1927 -2013) is best known for her novel Heat and Dust which won the 1975 Booker Prize.
Top 3 photos from 11 Gorgeous Places in India That Have to Be Seen to Be Believed on jetsetter.com
photo of the author from bbc.co.uk
The young Indian man is caught between old worlds and new: at times going to college and at other times being pressured to take a wife he has never met in an arranged marriage. The young British man falls in love with the Indian man and the Indian man seems unaware, at least initially, that the former is gay.
The second half of the book revolves around the relationship of the group to swamis. (Although written in 1973, that’s recent enough that the author mentions the involvement of the Beatles with swamis.) The British woman goes to live with a male swami; the Indian woman, a female swami. At the ashram huts they pray and sing hymns all day. They sleep on cement floors with flies and bedbugs.
To me, the whole swami experience comes across more as self-debasement than enlightenment. The male swami is anxious to get a reputation and followers in the USA. The middle and end of the book of bog down and gets repetitive with the visits to the swamis as the four main characters visit each other in the two camps in twos and threes.
These quotes that I liked illustrate the writing style and give a flavor of some of the themes of the book:
Of the young British woman: “It was what she had come for: to lose herself in order – as she liked to put it – to find herself.”
“Everyone here eats excessively – those that do eat, I mean.”
“Living with Raymond, he realized that these people [the British] said sorry very quickly, perhaps even took some pleasure in it so that there was no need to forgive them every time.”
“She says people don’t just come anymore to India to do good, those days are over. What they come for now is – well, to do good to themselves, to learn, to take from India.”
“…you’re wasting India, which has such supreme things, such gifts to give those of us ready to take them…”
“Just now the beggars seemed like essential props placed on the steps of the mosque to remind those who were going in to pray of how much there was to pray for.”
“[Western foreigners] pretend to be in search of spiritual values, but because they don’t know what true spiritual values are, they fasten themselves on harmful elements who only help to drive them deeper down into their disturbed egos; and so not only do they themselves suffer bad consequences but also all sorts of poisonous influences are released, polluting the air breathed in by truly spiritual Indians.”
In a couple of scenes we learn about servants and how they try to involve their masters in their private lives. In one scene the Indian woman beats her servant (older than she is) severely and an hour later the servant is singing and massaging her master’s feet. Certainly a fascinating book. I’ll rate it a 3.5 and round up to 4.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala is one of my favorite authors. I’ve read several of her novels and a collection of short stories. Below are links to my reviews of other books by her:
Heat and Dust
A Backward Place
Out of India – Selected Stories
The author (1927 -2013) is best known for her novel Heat and Dust which won the 1975 Booker Prize.
Top 3 photos from 11 Gorgeous Places in India That Have to Be Seen to Be Believed on jetsetter.com
photo of the author from bbc.co.uk
August 11, 2016
I just re-read Travelers ( I had actually sent for it by mistake, not realising that it was a later title for A New Dominion!) Anyway, not a problem, rather, it was a pleasure as I rediscovered it.
I have loved everything Jhabvala wrote , and this is no exception .Perhaps it is because I'm not Indian, and neither is Jhabvala that I find her accounts of Indian life so completely compelling. I spent less than a year in India, many years ago now but the impressions left and the power of the country have never left me . As with most of Jhabvala's Indian travelers, no-one one lives in and leaves India unchanged - love or it hate it, usually both.
Travelers follows the travels , both internal and physical, of a disparate group of people whose lives commingle for a season or so , maybe more , it is not really clear ( or important) .
First is Raymond the youngish Englishman , Cambridge educated, cultured, of the social group whose ancestors were the British Raj 'on the ground'. Raymond's love for India is inseparable from his love for Gopi, a young middle class Indian of the type Jhabvala does so well. Apparently destined to arranged marriage, and yet thinking himself modern and free, Gopi is Raymond's Nemesis.
As Swamiji is Lee's - and Margaret's, and Evie's and all the other disciples in his desert 'ashram ' of brick hutments, roofed with tin, in a burning wasteland where at night only jackals can be heard.
And what of Asha, highly-born aging beauty and voluptuary, caught between desire for Gopi and desire to return home to innocence. These and Bulbul the maid, Banubai the Great Mother , and the inimitable Miss Charlotte, thirty odd years in India, working in the poorest conditions and with the poorest of the poor , asked to leave as her work now deemed imperialist charity and not fit for modern India........
Jhabvala has all these lives intertwine, making a it one of those book which you put down at the end , sorry to have finished it and in a mood of deep reflection . All this, and it's funny in places too!
I have loved everything Jhabvala wrote , and this is no exception .Perhaps it is because I'm not Indian, and neither is Jhabvala that I find her accounts of Indian life so completely compelling. I spent less than a year in India, many years ago now but the impressions left and the power of the country have never left me . As with most of Jhabvala's Indian travelers, no-one one lives in and leaves India unchanged - love or it hate it, usually both.
Travelers follows the travels , both internal and physical, of a disparate group of people whose lives commingle for a season or so , maybe more , it is not really clear ( or important) .
First is Raymond the youngish Englishman , Cambridge educated, cultured, of the social group whose ancestors were the British Raj 'on the ground'. Raymond's love for India is inseparable from his love for Gopi, a young middle class Indian of the type Jhabvala does so well. Apparently destined to arranged marriage, and yet thinking himself modern and free, Gopi is Raymond's Nemesis.
As Swamiji is Lee's - and Margaret's, and Evie's and all the other disciples in his desert 'ashram ' of brick hutments, roofed with tin, in a burning wasteland where at night only jackals can be heard.
And what of Asha, highly-born aging beauty and voluptuary, caught between desire for Gopi and desire to return home to innocence. These and Bulbul the maid, Banubai the Great Mother , and the inimitable Miss Charlotte, thirty odd years in India, working in the poorest conditions and with the poorest of the poor , asked to leave as her work now deemed imperialist charity and not fit for modern India........
Jhabvala has all these lives intertwine, making a it one of those book which you put down at the end , sorry to have finished it and in a mood of deep reflection . All this, and it's funny in places too!
September 5, 2013
This book, published in 1973, focuses on four people who meet in India. A young woman named Lee and Raymond are British, both searching for different things. Lee is looking for meaning in her life but Raymond’s quest is uncertain, more of not knowing what he wants but will recognize it when he sees it. The other two are natives of India; Asha is an aging beautiful woman wanting someone to adore her and the other a young man named Gopi, a middle-class college student who is just hanging around and enjoying pleasures wherever he can find them.
The four meet a swami, a religious teacher who proclaims himself a holy man who’s anything but that. It’s hard to feel any sympathy for Lee who falls under the swami’s spell in a punishing sexual relationship. Asha has designs on Gopi but it’s not clear whether she desires him as a lover or a son. Raymond forms some kind of loving friendship with Gopi as well, one that has strong homoerotic themes but is not consummated. Gopi instead has a passing fling with Lee but clearly likes girls and seems happy having a good time without any strings attached.
The four protagonists seem to meander around the country to one place or another, complaining about the crowded trains, the heat, the wind, and dust in the air. I kept reading, hoping for some dramatic event, but it never happened. On balance, this book can be summarized as four characters searching for a plot.
The four meet a swami, a religious teacher who proclaims himself a holy man who’s anything but that. It’s hard to feel any sympathy for Lee who falls under the swami’s spell in a punishing sexual relationship. Asha has designs on Gopi but it’s not clear whether she desires him as a lover or a son. Raymond forms some kind of loving friendship with Gopi as well, one that has strong homoerotic themes but is not consummated. Gopi instead has a passing fling with Lee but clearly likes girls and seems happy having a good time without any strings attached.
The four protagonists seem to meander around the country to one place or another, complaining about the crowded trains, the heat, the wind, and dust in the air. I kept reading, hoping for some dramatic event, but it never happened. On balance, this book can be summarized as four characters searching for a plot.
December 17, 2013
Yet another brief review, since I'm trying to get through my huge "to-review" list. Also I kind of figure not many people are going to read this book anyway, since I see it only has like 50 ratings on here, soooo yeah.
I read this for a fiction-writing class focused on point of view; and it was interesting to study in terms of thinking about perspective. The narrative is mostly in third person, switching primarily between four central characters. It also occasionally switches over to first person. I found the switches kind of irritating, but I did think the idea of it was intriguing.
The story takes place in India, and two of the protagonists are Indians while the other two are English and American. The concept of how each of them interprets life in India, and of how all of them are either literal or figurative "travelers" is compelling.
However, I didn't feel much of a connection to any of these characters. While I'm intrigued by how the author connects their lives, I found the writing a bit dry and emotionless, and that took away from the book for me. In other words, I liked the concept of the book but I felt alienated from the story and characters. Maybe this was the intention, but over all it made the book somewhat forgettable for me.
I read this for a fiction-writing class focused on point of view; and it was interesting to study in terms of thinking about perspective. The narrative is mostly in third person, switching primarily between four central characters. It also occasionally switches over to first person. I found the switches kind of irritating, but I did think the idea of it was intriguing.
The story takes place in India, and two of the protagonists are Indians while the other two are English and American. The concept of how each of them interprets life in India, and of how all of them are either literal or figurative "travelers" is compelling.
However, I didn't feel much of a connection to any of these characters. While I'm intrigued by how the author connects their lives, I found the writing a bit dry and emotionless, and that took away from the book for me. In other words, I liked the concept of the book but I felt alienated from the story and characters. Maybe this was the intention, but over all it made the book somewhat forgettable for me.
March 18, 2024
Utterly fascinating
Young English travelers go to India, independently, to find...??? themselves? Truth? inspiration? adventure? all of the above? Margaret goes because she hates her successful sister and the bridesmaid dress she's been assigned. Lee goes because she goes everywhere, drifting with the wind, looking for a place to stay. Raymond goes because he inherited some money and wants a bit of adventure.
They meet people: Gopi who's incredibly handsome, sexy, and alluring; Asha, who's gorgeous, older, and the remains of an aristocratic tradition of leisure, indulgence, and beauty. There's also Badubai, who's a spiritual leader sought out by many for her insight and compassion, and Swamiji, who is beguiling, magnetic, and believes that the followers who seek his care and insight are compelled to follow him without variation.
and minor characters: a servant who is "uppity," an Indian man educated in the ways of the West and will build factories, a local descendent of the aristocracy who's running for office by connecting with the "common man,"
This is a spiritual Shakespearean pageant, a series of interactions where the assumptions and the visions of the East and West play out, where Hindu and Christian beliefs of pre-destination and independence cause joy and sadness and despair and exultation.
A simply amazing book.
Young English travelers go to India, independently, to find...??? themselves? Truth? inspiration? adventure? all of the above? Margaret goes because she hates her successful sister and the bridesmaid dress she's been assigned. Lee goes because she goes everywhere, drifting with the wind, looking for a place to stay. Raymond goes because he inherited some money and wants a bit of adventure.
They meet people: Gopi who's incredibly handsome, sexy, and alluring; Asha, who's gorgeous, older, and the remains of an aristocratic tradition of leisure, indulgence, and beauty. There's also Badubai, who's a spiritual leader sought out by many for her insight and compassion, and Swamiji, who is beguiling, magnetic, and believes that the followers who seek his care and insight are compelled to follow him without variation.
and minor characters: a servant who is "uppity," an Indian man educated in the ways of the West and will build factories, a local descendent of the aristocracy who's running for office by connecting with the "common man,"
This is a spiritual Shakespearean pageant, a series of interactions where the assumptions and the visions of the East and West play out, where Hindu and Christian beliefs of pre-destination and independence cause joy and sadness and despair and exultation.
A simply amazing book.
November 5, 2014
Another great book from Jhabvala. It mainly follows 5 characters, 2 Indians and 3 Westerners. Asha is a rich widow who would like to make something of her life, but always ends up following the path of least resistance, leading to the bed of some young lover. Eventually she settles on Gopi, who is as lazy as she is, and in the end finds it more pleasant to settle as her gigolo than to make the arranged marriage his uncles want for him. Why he makes this choice isn't entirely clear. He does have some feelings for Asha, and likes being pampered more than exerting himself and taking up responsibilities. At the beginning of the novel, his good looks captivate Raymond, a closeted gay Englishman who wants to experience India. however, nothing happens between them, and Raymond gets quite disappointed when he sees what a wimp Gopi will remain all his life. Even more sinister is the fate of Lee, an American who is one of 3 young Western girls to fall under the spell of a brilliant, ambitious and ruthless guru. In spite of her better judgement, Lee lets herself be trapped in an ashram, and ultimately raped by the guru. Even when she witnesses the pitiful death of her co-worshipper Margaret, whom the guru has not allowed to seek medical help for a lethal liver infection, Lee cannot help herself and decides to go back to the guru. In the end, Raymond is the only one who makes his escape from India, partly thanks to the moral influence of Miss Charlotte, a no-nonsense British missionary. Jhabvala excels at describing the doomed attempt these characters make to escape from the quagmire of their own conflicting desires, as well as the cultural and personal misunderstanding between them.
September 8, 2013
I just finished this book. It is very powerful. I like how the blurb at the back hardly tells you anything about it. I came across this book while reading Paul Theroux's The Tao of Travel. The observations of the author about all the major and minor characters are omniscient. And it's interesting how life in India has changed since this book was published in 1973.
January 29, 2019
I was turned onto Jhabvala first by her Booker winning novel, Heat and Dust. I thought it was whatever. And didn't bother even looking up the author or herstory. Then, I came across her in Naipaul's An Areas of Darkness. He praised her as one of the only Indian writers who was true to the nature of India in her work. So far, I've read two other novels by her and a collection of short stories.
This novel is intriguing and a quarter way through I was enthralled by the characters and setting. There is a white girl seeking spirituality but really wanting a different sort of man than that available back home. A closet gay white man interested in all things Indian but most importantly young Indian men. An Indian aristocratic widow who is middle-aged, bored and wants sex and the illusion of love, romance. And an Indian young man who is really, your typical young naive ignorant Indian.
You would think such elements would make for a fine novel. Well it does but Jhabvala's execution is poor and halfway through, the story is no longer interesting. The ending is a surprise and heart-wrenching conveying what Naipaul saw in her work.
I think her short stories are her strong point. Read those to get a sense of her skill.
This novel is intriguing and a quarter way through I was enthralled by the characters and setting. There is a white girl seeking spirituality but really wanting a different sort of man than that available back home. A closet gay white man interested in all things Indian but most importantly young Indian men. An Indian aristocratic widow who is middle-aged, bored and wants sex and the illusion of love, romance. And an Indian young man who is really, your typical young naive ignorant Indian.
You would think such elements would make for a fine novel. Well it does but Jhabvala's execution is poor and halfway through, the story is no longer interesting. The ending is a surprise and heart-wrenching conveying what Naipaul saw in her work.
I think her short stories are her strong point. Read those to get a sense of her skill.
August 5, 2025
i was intrigued by this book mainly because of the author's prestige, but five decades later, it has become thematically disorienting. i'd like to give ruth prawer jhabvala the benefit of the doubt; that she knew all too well the type of western traveler exoticizing their exploration of asia, particularly the global south. however, these attitudes continued to persist in the narratives portrayed. granted her characters underwent a "psychological journey" befitting of their place in indian society, moral accounting remained absent, especially towards the end, with the conclusive events feeling rushed and underplayed despite its reflective nature. if prawer-jhabvala's attempt was to make tragedy of her female characters without the redemption afforded to their male counterparts, however, then i guess the book wins on that end.
July 17, 2012
This book captured some of the mystical experiences of everyday life while traveling in India. It tells of four young characters, two English, two Indian, who meet and travel in search of themselves. None seems particularly happy with their situation. A guru is involved in the story, and he is evil. The theme of the story seems to be that the timeless land is more powerful than those that pass over it. I liked the way each character seemed to have a distinct voice. Same author screen played "A Room with a View" and wrote Out of India.
August 6, 2007
Four stories of different travelers going through India
June 1, 2012
Novel about four people and how their paths cross in India.
March 7, 2013
I love her novels.
April 4, 2013
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala never disappoints. complex plot, deft portraits, bitter color.
April 3, 2016
It was not terrible, though I decided not to finish it.
February 7, 2017
Strangely, the native Indian characters seem petty, mean and spiteful. The Anglos are written heroic. What is Jhabvala's background?
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews