From an award-winning novelist, a stunning portrait of late Raj India--a
sweeping saga and a love story set against a background of huge
political and cultural upheaval.YOU ASK FOR MY NAME, THE REAL ONE, AND I
CANNOT TELL. IT IS NOT FOR LACK OF EFFORT. In 1930, a great ocean wave
blots out a Bengali village, leaving only one survivor, a young girl. As
a maidservant in a British boarding school, Pom is renamed Sarah and
discovers her gift for languages. Her private dreams almost die when she
arrives in Kharagpur and is recruited into a secretive, decadent world.
Eventually, she lands in Calcutta, renames herself Kamala, and creates a
new life rich in books and friends. But although success and even love
seem within reach, she remains trapped by what she is . . . and is not.
As India struggles to throw off imperial rule, Kamala uses her hard-won
skills--for secrecy, languages, and reading the unspoken gestures of
those around her--to fight for her country's freedom and her own
happiness.