After living in the US for years, Maneka Roy returns home to India to
mourn the loss of her mother and finds herself in a new world. The
booming city of Hrishipur where her father now lives is nothing like the
part of the country where she grew up, and the more she sees of this
new, sparkling city, the more she learns that nothing--and no one--here
is as it appears. Ultimately, it will take an unexpected tragic event
for Maneka and those around her to finally understand just how fragile
life is in this city built on aspirations.
Written from the perspectives of ten different characters, Oindrila
Mukherjee's incisive debut novel explores class divisions, gender roles,
and stories of survival within a society that is constantly changing and
becoming increasingly Americanized. It's a story about India today, and
people impacted by globalization everywhere: a tale of ambition,
longing, and bitter loss that asks what it really costs to try and build
a dream.