Vikram Seth to return $1.8 million advance for 'A Suitable Boy' sequel?

It was around a year ago that Vikram Seth spoke about A Suitable Girl, the sequel to his massive (both in terms of  the novel’s length and popularity) hit, A Suitable Boy. “I haven’t written much of it,” Seth said to the audience which responded with indulgent titters. Fast forward to a year later, and Seth’s delay in writing the sequel isn’t eliciting such indulgence. Especially not from the publishers who gave Seth $1.7 million (approximately Rs 10 crore and 30 lakh) as an advance for the novel. Now, a week after the merging of Random House and Penguin publishers, the cost-cutting has begun – Seth has been asked to return the advance after he missed his deadline this month. [caption id=“attachment_940881” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image courtesy: Tata Literature Live![/caption] According to a report in today’s Mumbai Mirror, the new publishing operation (now the biggest in the world) is eager to “cut costs and streamline operations”. Seth’s agent, David Godwin, is now negotiating with Hamish Hamilton, the imprint under which A Suitable Girl was to be published. “It would be unfair to say the deal has been called off,” Godwin said to the Mumbai Mirror. “Vikram has been known to take his time with his books… if we can’t (settle the date), Vikram will decide what he wants to do next.” Seth is an author who has been known to work on his own terms. He doesn’t share his manuscripts with anyone and doesn’t react to pressure from publishers. He once said (jokingly) that it was his job to get money out of the publishers, and it was the publisher’s job to get the book out of him. Let’s hope his publishers have developed an appetite for both his sense of humour and his work principles.