The Holder of the World, (1993) is a novel by Bharati Mukherjee. It is a retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, placing the story in two centuries (17th and 20th). The novel involves time travel via virtual reality, locating itself in 20th century Boston, 17th century Colonial America, and 17th century India during the spread of the British East India Company. It also references Thomas Pynchon's novel, V.. The book was among the contenders in a 2014 list by The Telegraph of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels. Publication history Hardcover — (), published in September 1993 by Alfred A. Knopf. Paperback — (), published in September 1994 by Random House References Srikanth, Rajini. The World Next Door: South Asian American Literature and the Idea of America. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004: 187-192. External links Holders of the Word:An Interview with Bharati Mukherjee Breaking the Borders of Gendered Space: Female Characters in Aritha van Herk's No Fixed Address and Bharati Mukherjee's The Holder of the World Reader's guide Powells book review A Selected Annotated Bibliography 1993 American novels Parallel literature Novels by Bharati Mukherjee Alfred A. Knopf books Novels set in Boston Novels set in India Novels set in the American colonial era Novels about time travel Chatto & Windus books Works based on The Scarlet Letter