THE MYSTIC MASSEUR

Ismail Merchant of the esteemed Merchant-Ivory team, brings to fruition a renown literary work, ? the first published novel by author V.S. Naipaul, recent winner of a Nobel Prize. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR is the seriocomic story of Ganesh Ramsumair, a book loving ex-schoolteacher on the Caribbean nation of Trinidad in the mid-20th century. While Ganesh aspires to be an author, his writings fail to sell, so he goes into business as a village masseur to support himself and his new wife, Leela. Masseurs are commonplace in a culture that distrusts doctors, and Ganesh's Indian descent, thoughtful Hinduism and beginner's luck at ?curing? the son of his former landlady earns him status throughout the island as a mystic healer and thinker-cum-guru. Wonder of wonders, people even start to buy his books! Soon local politics beckons, and Ganesh contemplates making a move to the capital, Port of Spain, and an election to Parliament. But Ganesh Ramsumair is a country boy at heart, out of his depth in the metropolis. Can his ingrown values of basic decency and hard work endure for long amidst the governing chicanery of the newly independent island? Hands-down, we believe you'll give THE MYSTIC MASSEUR a thumbs-up.