Jeffrey Archer: The Brit author who made Indians fall in love with English writing

Jeffrey Archer speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2019 That Jeffrey Archer would have a way with words would be an understatement. In 2019, the only year that he attended the Jaipur Literature Festival, he shared an anecdote that encapsulated the unique position he occupies among Indian readers of English.Archer recalled that a young urchin came up to him with pirated books and asked: “Sir, do you want the latest Jeffrey Archer?” To this, the author replied: “I am the latest Jeffrey Archer.”In that same interaction, he argued that RK Narayan should have won a Nobel Prize and congratulated the Indian team for beating the Aussies Down Under, which came after a session on stage that was filled to the rafters with about 8,000 people.Archer was a prolific writer and one who was more celebrated in India than in his native UK, where his public life often sullied his prowess as a scribe, though even legal misfortune would turn out to be a blessing in literary disguise as he churned out the utterly delightful Prison Diaries about his time navigating Britain’s penal system.As the New York Times lede read: “…a best-selling British author, politician, philanthropist, athlete and one...