3 Review(s)

Sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes playful, the stories in this collection cut to the truth of what it means to be a modern outsider. A woman who can't swim wades into a suburban pool. An Indian family sits down to an Australian Christmas dinner. A single mother's offer to coach her son's football team leads to an unexpected encounter, and a wife refuses to let her husband look at her phone. Roanna Gonsalves' short stories unearth the aspirations, ambivalence and guilt laced through the lives of twenty-first century Indian immigrants to Australia, steering through clashes of cultures, trials of faith, and squalls of racism. Sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes playful, they cut to the truth of what it means to be a modern outsider. Since its publication, Sunita De Souza Goes to Sydney has quickly found a place on a number of lists of must-read books, and has been praised by critics for its playfulness with language, its boldness and its fresh voice. About the Author Roanna Gonsalves came to Australia as an international student from India. Some years on she became a citizen and a recipient of the Prime Minister's Australia Asia Endeavour Award. This is her first book.