As a ten year old in Mumbai, Tara's life is pretty normal. She lives with her mom and dad, but her father is known for helping out children less fortunate. One day, Tara's dad brings home Mukta, a young child from his home village whose mother is a prostitute. Mukta would have been destined for that life had she stayed in her village but maybe now she can know a more regular life. Her and Tara become quick friends, until disaster strikes the family. Tara blames Mukta and plans for her kidnapping.
As an adult, Tara is in the USA and wonders what happened to Mukta. She never got over the guilt from what she was responsible for. Heading back to India, she hopes that she can find her childhood friend.
Right from the beginning, all the way to the end, I was completely engaged by this story. The writing flows very well, despite there being shifts in time. I wouldn't have guessed that this was Trasi's debut novel.
Tara feel guilt her whole life on what she did to Mukta and this guilt shapes who she becomes as an adult. She makes decisions based on this guilt and to further punish herself. I thought this was a very genuine portrayal of a woman wracked with guilt.
This was a simple but wonderful book. I recommend it!
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour. To purchase this book, click here.
First Line: "The memory of that moment hit me like a surging ocean wave - drawing me into it - the sour smell of darkness, those sobs erupting like an echo from a bottomless pit."
Rating:
(4/5)
About the Author
|
Somer almost has it all. She's got a great career as a doctor, a nice house, and a fabulous husband. What Somer doesn't have is a child. When she finds out she is not able to have kids, husband Kris suggests adopting from his home of India. The two end up adopting Asha, who was given up by her family because she was a girl, and take her back to America. Somer can't really relate to the Indian culture and has concerns about Asha wanting to find her real mother but tries to suppress these as she raises her daughter.
Social classes in modern-day Bombay are wildly different between each class. This book gives us the story of middle class Sera and her long-time servant Bhima. The two have become quite close over the years, despite the fact that they shouldn't be according to social customs. They each were married and both had troubled marriages in different ways. They each had children and either have or are about to welcome grandchildren to the world. It seems that despite the troubles they have experienced, they are still close. This novel explores their past and the recent pregnancies of Maya, Bhima's grandaughter and Dinaz, Sera's daughter.
Devi grew up in a traditional Indian family that moved to California before she was born. Her relationship with her mom isn't very close because her mom is constantly nagging and blaming Devi. Her relationship with her sister is also strained because so much competition has been fostered between the two. She is close to her father and grandmother but doesn't feel like she can confide in them when she loses her job (again) and miscarries a child from a married man. Those two events push Devi over the edge and cause her to attempt suicide. Thankfully, her mom finds her in the bathtub, when she uses the spare key that Devi has told her before not to use to enter her house whenever she wanted. After a trip to the hospital, Devi is left in the care of her parents until she heals.
Lina is feeling the pressure to get married when she returns to India for her younger sister's wedding. All of her relatives are asking her if she has found a man, and the pressure gets to be so great that Lina lies and says that she is engaged to a mystery man from America. When the family wants to meet this man, Lina of course knows she needs to find a man and quick! Yet she only need look in her own backyard to find her true love!