3 Review(s)

The orphans of St Ursula’s convent in Madras are destined to be nuns or servants, but seventeen-year-old Savi dreams of escape. A girl with a strong sense of duty and a facility for languages, she’s taken on as a governess for the wealthy Nandiyar family. But the horrific events of a single night compel Savi and her lover, Ananda, to embark on a dangerous journey. They re-emerge in America under new identities, with India forever in the rear-view mirror of their past. But the past is never too far away. Forty years later, Savi, now known as Missy, is living the American dream in Chicago. She is the pillar of the South Asian community and mother to two brilliant young women, Mansi and Shilpa. Everything goes smoothly, until Varun, a charming doctor, enters their lives, setting off a chain of events that puts Missy’s world in jeopardy. An extraordinary and captivating debut, Missy is an exploration of the immigrant experience as well as a haunting tale about the impossibility of escaping the shadow of the past.