基蘭·德賽，1971年齣生於印度，15歲時定居英國，目前是美國哥倫比亞大學寫作班的一名學生。德賽的母親阿妮塔·德賽也是非常知名的作傢，她自1980年起就曾三次進入布剋奬的總決選名單，可惜從未摺桂。阿妮塔曾經勸說女兒不要進入這個行列，理由是寫作太難。而女兒最終以自己的成就給予母親最大的安慰和迴報。基蘭·德賽的處女作《番石榴園的喧嘩》曾受到各方的一緻贊譽。2006年她憑藉第二部長篇小說《失落》（The Inheritance of Loss，又譯為《失落之遺産》）獲得布剋奬，成為有史以來贏得該奬項的最年輕的女作傢。

Published to extraordinary acclaim, The Inheritance of Loss heralds Kiran Desai as one of our most insightful novelists. She illuminates the pain of exile and the ambiguities of postcolonialism with a tapestry of colorful characters: an embittered old judge; Sai, his sixteen-year-old orphaned granddaughter; a chatty cook; and the cook’s son, Biju, who is hopscotching from one miserable New York restaurant to another, trying to stay a step ahead of the INS. When a Nepalese insurgency in the mountains threatens Sai’s new-sprung romance with her handsome tutor, their lives descend into chaos. The cook witnesses India’s hierarchy being overturned and discarded. The judge revisits his past and his role in Sai and Biju’s intertwining lives. A story of depth and emotion, hilarity and imagination, The Inheritance of Loss tells a story of love, family, and loss.