Kathryn Harrison's new memoir, On Sunset, revisits her Los Angeles childhood and the grandparents who raised her on family stories. Below, the novelist and author of the best-selling memoir The Kiss names six of her favorite epic novels. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (1995). Set in India in 1975, A Fine Balance follows the chaotic fortunes of four people thrown together during a state of emergency declared by a corrupt and faltering government.