"[Swamy's] prose is so assured . . . The Archer dazzles as it
asks: How does a woman remain an artist?" --The New York Times Book
Review
Recommended by: BuzzFeed * The Millions * Book Riot * Literary
Hub * Bookmarks * Ms.* Bookish * Goodreads * Library
Journal * San Francisco Chronicle
FINALIST FOR THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE
In this original and transfixing novel, Vidya comes of age in 1960s- and
1970s-era Bombay, her childhood marked by the shattering absence and
then the bewildering reappearance of her mother and baby brother at the
family home. Restless, observant, and longing for connection with her
brilliant and increasingly troubled mother, Vidya one day peeks into a
classroom where girls are learning kathak, a dazzling, centuries-old
dance form that requires the utmost discipline and focus. Her pursuit of
artistic transcendence and escape through kathak soon becomes the
organizing principle of her life, even as she leaves home for college
and falls in complicated love with her best friend. As the uncertain
future looms, she must confront the tensions between romance, art, and
the legacy of her own imperfect mother.
Lyrical and deeply sensual, Shruti Swamy's The Archer is a bold
portrait of a singular woman striving toward life as an artist while
navigating desire, duty, and the limits of the body. It is also an
electrifying and utterly immersive story about the transformative power
of art, and the possibilities that love can open when we're ready.
