3 Review(s)

A powerful, evocative story of love, ambition, the old city of Bangalore and the new city of Bengaluru. Thippy, the beautiful 'girl from the outhouse'. Ashwath, only son of a feudal family of landowners. A love that could never be blessed by Destiny. Disillusioned by his family's rejection of his love for Thippy, stifled by its traditions and conservative ways, Ashwath leaves Bangalore for a university town in America's Midwest. It is 1981, and the American economy is booming. Ashwath enjoys the three C's of success: a condominium, a car and a credit card. But a decade later, when the market crashes, he sees the other side of the American dream-joblessness, dingy one-room tenements and loneliness. Casting its shadow over it all is Neel Kamal, his family's sprawling bungalow in Bangalore, now a piece of prime real estate. Ashwath is compelled to return after twenty-five years to lay claim to his inheritance. In doing so, he has to once again face tangled relationships-with his sister, Savitri, her ne'er-do-well husband, Keshav, his first love Thippy-and the ghosts of his parents who died without ever seeing him again. He also finds love of a different kind, through his fun-loving niece, Shweta, and his intense, idealistic nephew, Aprameya. Finally, it is Neel Kamal that decides what he must do||About the Author||Usha K R is the author of the novels Sojourn (1998), The Chosen (2003), A Girl and a River (2007), and Monkey-man (2010). Her novels have been listed for several awards including the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the Man Asia, and the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. A Girl and a River won the Vodafone Crossword Award, 2007. Monkey-man was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, 2012. Her short story Sepia Tones won the Katha Award for Creative Writing back in 1995. Usha K R attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 2011.