{"product_id":"9781885983473","title":"My Curious Years with Charles Henri Ford","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eA young Nepalese man’s globe-spanning relationship with an American surrealist over three decades changes the course of his life, his fortune, and his sense of family and home.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn 1973, poet, photographer, collage artist, and sculptor\nCharles Henri Ford, often called the father of American surrealism, convinced a\nyoung Nepalese waiter at his hotel in Kathmandu to come work as his all-purpose\nhelper. Nineteen-year-old Indra Tamang, who spoke minimal English, was soon\nenjoying an education and a life he could not have imagined. He quickly\ngraduated from cooking and running errands to attending social engagements with\nCharles, to accompanying the artist on his international travels, eventually\nbecoming his collaborator, and more of a son than an employee.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCharles was a magnet for creative people, and during the ’70s,\n’80s, and ’90s, Indra found himself at the center of seemingly every fantastic\nlittle universe in New York, Paris, Crete, and Kathmandu, often as a quiet\nobserver taking photographs and making mental notes. There was Studio 54, Andy\nWarhol’s Factory, the teas that Charles would host at the Dakota, attended by\nregulars such as Tennessee Williams, Quentin Crisp, Patti Smith and Henry\nGeldzahler; there were special dinners at the United Nations; visits to Mary\nMcCarthy and Leonor Fini; and chats in the elevator with neighbors like John\nand Yoko and Lauren Bacall. Charles gave Indra a second upbringing, one that\nIndra absorbed with tremendous curiosity and enthusiasm. In turn, Indra brought\nCharles into his family’s village in Nepal, introducing him to a world that not\nmany Westerners were privileged to see, especially then. Indra managed to shuttle\nbetween these two vastly different worlds, marrying and having children in\nNepal, though not revealing this to Charles for quite some years.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn 2010, Indra Tamang became the object of global\nfascination after inheriting two apartments from Charles’s sister, the actress\nRuth Ford. The story in the Wall Street Journal described a Nepalese “butler”\nwho “grew up in a mud hut” and ended up owning property in one of New York’s\nmost famous buildings. The attention that followed inspired Indra to write this\nricher and more accurate account of his life. Illustrated with nearly fifty\nphotographs and ephemera from the private collections of Charles and Indra,\ngathered together for the first time and including some never before shown,\nreaders will discover that nothing about Indra’s “curious years” with Charles\nand his constellation of friends was ever ordinary or predictable in any\nway.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Indra B. Tamang, Romy Ashby","offers":[{"title":"Turtle Point Press |  Paperback \/ softback | Trade paperback (US) |  2024-09-06","offer_id":45663917637887,"sku":"9781885983473","price":33.5,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/81fqVsSMihL._AC_UF1000_1000_QL80.jpg?v=1718377920","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781885983473","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}