Author Guide · Literary Fiction
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Rohinton Mistry left Bombay for Toronto in 1975 and spent his first years in Canada as a clerk in a bank’s accounting department. His first short story, “One Sunday”, won a Hart House literary prize in 1983. Every book he has published since goes back to the city he left: a Parsi apartment block, a bank clerk’s family in 1971, four strangers sharing a flat during the Emergency, an old man’s illness in a crowded home. Each of his three novels was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and he has not published a novel since 2002. This guide covers his 5 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 5 key books · 1987–2006 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Rohinton Mistry has published five books: the story collection Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987), three novels — Such a Long Journey (1991), A Fine Balance (1995) and Family Matters (2002) — and the short illustrated story The Scream (2006). Start with A Fine Balance, his best-known novel and winner of the 1995 Giller Prize; below you will find what each book is about and how they connect.
Where to Start with Rohinton Mistry
If you want his defining book
→ A Fine Balance (1995) — four lives during India’s Emergency.
If you want a shorter way in
→ Such a Long Journey (1991) — his first novel, set in Bombay in 1971.
If you want to begin with stories
→ Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987) — the apartment block where his fiction starts.
If you want a family novel
→ Family Matters (2002) — an old man, his children and one small flat.
5 Rohinton Mistry Books, in Order
Tales from Firozsha Baag
Eleven linked stories about the Parsi residents of Firozsha Baag, an apartment building in Bombay. It was published by Penguin Books Canada and appeared in the United States in 1989 as Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag.
Such a Long Journey
Gustad Noble, a Parsi bank clerk in Bombay in 1971, is trying to keep his wife Dilnavaz and their three children out of poverty when a letter from an old friend, Major Bilimoria, draws him into a government deception involving secrecy and a large sum of money. The novel also won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was filmed in 1998.
A Fine Balance
During the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975, four strangers end up sharing a small flat in an unnamed Indian city: the widow Dina Dalal, the tailors Ishvar and Om Darji, and the student Maneck Kohlah. The novel follows them to 1984 and reaches back to independence in 1947. It also won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize, was chosen for Oprah’s Book Club in 2001, and in 2013 was voted the best Giller winner of the prize’s first twenty years.
Family Matters
Nariman Vakeel, a 79-year-old Parsi widower with Parkinson’s disease, breaks his ankle, and his two stepchildren send him to live with his daughter Roxana, her husband Yezad and their two sons in their small flat. The novel is set in a Bombay governed by the Shiv Sena. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and won the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize.
The Scream
A single long story told by an ageing, isolated man in a Bombay flat. It was first published as a limited edition illustrated by the Canadian artist Tony Urquhart, to raise money for World Literacy of Canada.
In What Order to Read Rohinton Mistry
None of Mistry’s books is a sequel, so you can read them in any order. Publication order works well, though: the stories of Tales from Firozsha Baag set up the Parsi Bombay that the novels return to, and each novel is longer and wider in scope than the one before.
If you are unsure about committing to the length of A Fine Balance start with Such a Long Journey. Keep The Scream for last; it is a short piece for readers who already know his Bombay.
A reading path
1. Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987)
2. Such a Long Journey (1991)
3. A Fine Balance (1995)
4. Family Matters (2002)
The years · 1952–2012
Quick facts about Rohinton Mistry
- Known for
- Rohinton Mistry is known for long, closely observed novels about ordinary families in Bombay and India, often Parsi, living through political upheaval.
- 1952
- Born in Bombay into a Parsi family
- 1975
- Emigrates to Toronto
- 1995
- A Fine Balance
- 2012
- Neustadt International Prize for Literature
- Born
- 3 July 1952, Bombay (now Mumbai), India, into a Parsi family
- Education
- St. Xavier’s College, Bombay (mathematics and economics); University of Toronto (English and philosophy)
- Moved to Canada
- 1975, with his future wife Freny Elavia
- Booker Prize
- Shortlisted three times: 1991, 1996 and 2002
- Honours
- Neustadt International Prize for Literature (2012); Member of the Order of Canada (2016)
- Family
- His brother is the playwright and novelist Cyrus Mistry
The red mark is 1995: A Fine Balance, his novel of the Emergency years and winner of the Giller Prize.
How Rohinton Mistry Writes: Bombay from the Inside
Mistry has written about Bombay for his whole career while living in Canada. His settings are small and crowded: one apartment block in Tales from Firozsha Baag, Gustad Noble’s building in Such a Long Journey, Dina Dalal’s flat in A Fine Balance, the cramped home where Nariman Vakeel is sent in Family Matters. Most of his central characters are Parsis, the small Zoroastrian community he grew up in.
His novels set private lives against public events. Such a Long Journey takes place in 1971 under Indira Gandhi’s government; A Fine Balance follows its four characters through the Emergency of 1975–77, when civil liberties were suspended; Family Matters is set in a city run by the Shiv Sena. Politics reaches the characters through rent, work and illness rather than through speeches.
He works on a large scale and writes in the realist tradition, with many characters, sub-plots and long stretches of everyday detail. That patience is one reason his books take years: three novels in eleven years, then none since 2002.
Watch
Rohinton Mistry Accepts the Neustadt Prize
Rohinton Mistry gives his acceptance speech for the 2012 Neustadt International Prize for Literature at the Neustadt Festival banquet at the University of Oklahoma in September 2012. From the official World Literature Today channel.
Frequently asked questions about Rohinton Mistry’s books
How many books has Rohinton Mistry written?
Five: the story collection Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987), three novels — Such a Long Journey (1991), A Fine Balance (1995) and Family Matters (2002) — and the short illustrated story The Scream (2006).
What are Rohinton Mistry’s books in order?
Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987), Such a Long Journey (1991), A Fine Balance (1995), Family Matters (2002) and The Scream (2006). In the United States the first book was published in 1989 as Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag.
Where should I start with Rohinton Mistry?
With A Fine Balance, his best-known novel. If you would rather begin with something shorter, read Such a Long Journey, his first novel.
What is Rohinton Mistry’s most famous book?
A Fine Balance (1995). It won the Giller Prize and the Commonwealth Writers Prize, was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize, was chosen for Oprah’s Book Club in 2001, and in 2013 readers voted it the best Giller winner of the prize’s first twenty years.
Has Rohinton Mistry won the Booker Prize?
No, but all three of his novels were shortlisted: Such a Long Journey in 1991, A Fine Balance in 1996 and Family Matters in 2002. He was also a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize in 2011 and won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2012.
Has Rohinton Mistry written anything since Family Matters?
No novel. His only book since 2002 is The Scream (2006), a single story published as an illustrated limited edition to raise money for World Literacy of Canada.
Is Rohinton Mistry still alive?
Yes. He was born on 3 July 1952 in Bombay and has lived in Canada since 1975. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2016.
Why was Such a Long Journey removed from Mumbai University’s syllabus?
In 2010 Aditya Thackeray, grandson of the Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray and then a student, complained that the novel contained abusive language about his grandfather and about Maharashtrians. The vice-chancellor, Rajan Welukar, used emergency powers to withdraw it from the BA English syllabus. Teachers defended the choice on grounds of academic freedom, and Mistry said he was disappointed.
Have Rohinton Mistry’s books been adapted?
Such a Long Journey was made into a film in 1998. A Fine Balance was adapted for the stage by Tamasha Theatre Company and performed at Hampstead Theatre in London in 2006, with a revival in 2007.
Why did Rohinton Mistry cancel his American book tour?
In 2002 he cancelled the US tour for Family Matters after he and his wife were repeatedly singled out by security agents at airports.
Footnotes
- Rohinton Mistry — Wikipedia
- Rohinton Mistry — The Canadian Encyclopedia
- A Fine Balance — Wikipedia
- Such a Long Journey (novel) — Wikipedia
- Family Matters (novel) — Wikipedia
- 2012 Neustadt Prize Laureate Rohinton Mistry — World Literature Today
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The morning express bloated with passengers slowed to a crawl, then lurched forward suddenly, as though to resume full speed.”
— Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance (1995), the first line of the novel
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