The Householder (novel)

The Householder is a 1960 English-language novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. It is about a young man named Prem who has recently moved from the first stage of his life, a student, to the second stage of his life, a householder. The book is a bildungsroman, which is a story where the protagonist develops mind and character as he passes from childhood through various experiences usually through a spiritual crisis into maturity.

A film adaptation of The Householder was released in 1963, and Jhabvala started her career as a screenwriter by co-writing its screenplay with director James Ivory. It was also Ivory's directorial debut (not including documentary shorts) as well as his first collaboration with producer Ismail Merchant.

Characters

 * Prem
 * Indu, Prem's Wife
 * Prem's mother
 * Mr. Khanna, the principal of the college where Prem works as a teacher
 * Mrs. Khanna
 * Mr. Chaddha, the history teacher
 * Mr. Sohan Lal, the math teacher
 * Raj, Prem's high school friend
 * Hans Loewe, Kitty, and Mohammed, white people living in India and their servant
 * Mr. Seigal, Prem's landlord