Other Waters
A Novel
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"A Jane Austen-ish plot gets a delicious Indian accent in this effervescent novel by former PEOPLE editor Gage . . . in this exotic, mysterious setting, cultures collide, love grows more complicated and Maya finally discovers just whom – and where – she is really meant to be." --People, ****
Maya is an accomplished psychiatry resident with a supportive boyfriend, loving family, and bustling New York social life. When her grandmother dies in India, a family squabble over property ignites a curse that drifts across continents and threatens Maya's life. Or so her father says-- Maya (being a modern woman, an American, and a doctor) doesn't believe in curses, Brahman, or otherwise. But then a series of calamities befalls her family, her career and relationship both falter, and Maya starts to worry. She hopes a trip back to India with her best friend, Heidi, will enable her to remove the curse, save her family, and put her own life back in order. Thus begins a journey into Maya's parallel worlds-- New York and an India filled with loving and annoying relatives, vivid colors, and superstitious customs she doesn't, and does, believe in. But her time in India isn't just a visit "home" or a chance to explore the strengthening and suffocating bonds of family, it's also the beginning of a cathartic quest toward forging one identity out of two cultues as Maya learns unexpected lessons about life and love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Psychiatry resident Maya Das has a white American boyfriend she knows her Indian family will never accept. Living in New York, Maya spends every Thursday night out with her best friend and advocate, Heidi, a glamorous fashion industry insider, and feels the pull of her two worlds that intersect unexpectedly when her beloved grandmother in India dies and a property squabble leads the grandmother's long-term caregiver to put a curse on Maya's family. Tragedies ensue: Maya's father has heart surgery; her mother has a nasal hemorrhage that sends her to the hospital; her sister has a miscarriage; and Maya gets slapped with a malpractice suit. Just when it looks like the worst is over, Maya forbids Scott from accompanying her to a cousin's wedding in India, and Scott dumps her. In India, Maya confronts her grandmother's caregiver, demanding she lift the curse. Despite getting rebuffed, Maya feels cleansed by a bath in the Ganges and soon meets an Indian man who would please her parents, complicating Maya's attempts at finding peace with her dual identity. In fictionalizing a tale already explored in her memoir, North of Ithaka, Gage shifts the action from her native Greece to India. She resists giving Maya easy resolutions to her problems and finds her novel's heart in the relationship between Maya and Heidi.