Kavitha's favourite aunt marries a swindler and her friend Babu dies in strange circumstances. Is the culprit her brother or something else?
My novel is set both in modern Chennai (formerly Madras), and in traditional village India. Kavitha, an eight-year old girl, lives through an exciting but, ultimately, terrible summer when her favourite aunt is married off to a swindler, and her only friend, Babu, dies in strange circumstances. Blaming the brother with whom she has never been close, she commits an awful crime; yet her guilt remains undiscovered. Years later, Kavitha returns from England to confront the continuing traumas of the past, as well as her uncertain future, caught between conflicting cultural identities.
The book is set against the backdrop of the Dravidian political movement and the social and ecological changes brought about by the industrialization of the countryside. I have tried to make the novel an honest portrayal of women in modern India. More than that, I hope I have written a great story.