Summary of THE ROOM ON THE ROOF

The Room on the Roof, by Ruskin Bond, is a coming-of-age novel about a homeless young man who finds an unlikely family in the slums of an Indian town in 1956. Sixteen-year-old Rusty, an orphaned Anglo-Indian boy, is staying with relatives in Dehra when he decides to strike out on his own. Moving into an abandoned room on the roof of a local mansion, he forms an unlikely friendship with a local family; through them, he learns to overcome his loneliness and to care for others. In the process, he discovers his true identity and comes to terms with his mixed heritage. As tensions in Dehra rise between the two communities, Rusty finds himself drawn into a conflict - and ultimately discovers his true purpose in life.