India, Jan. 31 -- An Indo-Pak romance withstands years of toxic nationalism, only to unravel in Europe. Jafar, born of that romance, inherits a history over which he has no control. As he grows up in Berlin, his father, Brighu, desperate to hold on to the fantasies of a fading home, tells him bedtime stories of sultans and djinns, of Delhi, Calcutta and Karachi. Set in a world where borders shape relationships, Sarnath Banerjee's Absolute Jafar is a poignant meditation on belonging and becoming. Perhaps the author's most personal work yet, it is bittersweet, rich in humanity, wit and imagination....