Originally a poet, Vikram Seth attracted international attention in 1993 with the publication of his mammoth novel, A Suitable Boy. Set against the backdrop of post-colonial India, the novel made Seth into a literary celebrity – dubbed "India's Tolstoy" and "the Golden Boy." In 2005 he spoke to Eleanor Wachtel onstage at the Toronto International Festival of Authors about his book Two Lives. Part memoir, part family history, Two Lives chronicles the remarkable story of Seth's great aunt Henny – a German Jew who lost her family in the Holocaust – and his great uncle Shanti – an Indian-born, Berlin-trained dentist, who lost an arm fighting in World War Two. *This episode originally aired November 20, 2005.