Published in 1951 this is the first part of a projected seven volume autobiography. Anand died in 2004 at the age of 98 having completed 4 volumes of the autobiography, the last instalment was published in 1985 and so he had plenty of time to complete his project. I guess he just lost interest.
Seven summers covers his early years from his first memories until the age of nine which coincides with the start of the first world war in 1914. Fortunately it is not written in the language of a preteen boy, but Anand stretches his memories to encompass his childish thoughts along with his more mature considerations.

Anand's (referred to as Krishan) early life took place in the melting pot of Indians who found themselves followers of the British Raj. Krishan lived in a comfortable house just across the riverbed from the British cantonment. His father was in the service of the British army and like all of the Indian families his father and therefore the family were at the beck and call of the British. As a child Krishan only occasionally came into contact with the British, and so considered them as almost god like figures. His father was high up in the pecking order of the local Indian population and had to work hard to maintain his position. He was a proud man whose main consideration was to improve the position of himself and his family. He was a hard taskmaster to his children.

Krishan was a rebel, a difficult child with a violent temper. He admits he was self-willed and egotistical, always trying to make things work for his own advantage. He did not do well with the stresses and strains that threatened to tear his family apart and this is the main theme of the autobiography. His father was high cast Hindu and his mother was a Sikh; she had become Hindu and steeped herself in the capricious gods of her adopted religion. Other families of the followers in the cantonment: or the prison of the armed camp as it was referred to, were Muslims with a good sprinkling of untouchables. Everybody had to somehow get along together as best they could. Krishan had to pick his way through this conglomeration of religious and social conventions most of which had to be taken for granted. Children suffered physical and verbal abuse on a daily basis, Krishan was never too far away from his next physical beating. Poverty was of course endemic and survival was not certain. Children had to grow up quickly, had to find their way through the melting-pot. Sibling rivalry with his elder brother was a feature of Krishan's early years, but it is Krishan's will to win through that pitches him against almost everybody. He must have been a horrible child live with.

Mulk Raj Anand's descriptions of the sights and sounds from his childhood make his story seem steeped in reality. The religious observances, the rigid caste system, the struggles to adapt to the British Raj come across clearly through Arnand's account. Tempers are frayed, suspicions undermine any real friendships and the relentless desire to get ahead puts the struggles of Arnand in clear context. Arnand uses Anglo-Indian commonly used phrases to give his dialogue plenty of local colour and while this reader repeatedly lost patience with the brat of a boy that Arnand describes, I was thankful to him for setting me down in a time and place that fascinated me right to the end and so 4 stars. ( )