Anjali Bose's prospects don't look great. Born into a traditional
lower-middle-class family, she lives in a backwater town with only an
arranged marriage on the horizon. But her ambition, charm, and fluency
in language do not go unnoticed by her charismatic and influential expat
teacher, Peter Champion. And champion her he does, both to powerful
people who can help her along the way and to Anjali herself, stirring in
her a desire to take charge of her own destiny.
So she sets off to Bangalore, India's fastest-growing metropolis, and
soon falls in with an audacious and ambitious crowd of young people who
have learned how to sound American by watching shows like Seinfeld in
order to get jobs in call centers, where they quickly out-earn their
parents. And it is in this high-tech city where Anjali -- suddenly free
of the confines of class, caste, and gender -- is able to confront her
past and reinvent herself. Of course, the seductive pull of life in the
New India does not come without a dark side . . .
"Each character fascinates, and every detail glints with irony and
intent, as Mukherjee brilliantly choreographs her compelling
protagonist's struggles against betrayal, violence, and corruption in a
dazzling plot." - Booklist, starred
