The World We Found: A Novel

Description

"Stunning . . . . This is a novel that rewards reading, and even re-reading. The World We Found is a powerful meditation." -Boston Globe Thrity Umrigar, acclaimed author of The Space Between Us and The Weight of Heaven, returns with a breathtaking new novel-a skillfully wrought, emotionally resonant story of four women and the indelible friendship they share. As university students in late 1970s Bombay, Armaiti, Laleh, Kavita, and Nishta were inseparable. Spirited and unconventional, they challenged authority and fought for a better world. But over the past thirty years, the quartet has drifted apart, the day-to-day demands of work and family tempering the revolutionary fervor they once shared. Then comes devastating news: Armaiti, who moved to America, is gravely ill and wants to see the old friends she left behind. For Laleh, reunion is a bittersweet reminder of unfulfilled dreams and unspoken guilt. For Kavita, it is an admission of forbidden passion. For Nishta, it is the promise of freedom from a bitter, fundamentalist husband. And for Armaiti, it is an act of acceptance, of letting go on her own terms. The World We Found is a dazzling masterwork from the remarkable Thrity Umrigar, offering an unforgettable portrait of modern India while it explores the enduring bonds of friendship and the power of love to change lives.

Thrity Umrigar is the author of seven novels - Everybody's Son, The Story Hour, The World We Found, The Weight of Heaven, The Space Between Us, If Today Be Sweet, and Bombay Time - and the memoir First Darling of the Morning. A journalist for almost twenty years, she is the winner of the Nieman Fellowship to Harvard and 2006 finalist for the PEN/Beyond Margins Award. An associate professor of English at Case Western Reserve University, Umrigar lives in Cleveland.

"The World We Found is stunning in its credibility and nuance. . . . This is a novel that rewards reading, and even re-reading. The World We Found is a powerful meditation." -- Boston Globe "Luminous. . . . Wise and absorbing, Umrigar's novel has the rich, chaotic vibrancy of a Mumbai marketplace." -- People "Asparkling and sharp slice of life." -- Nina Sankovitch, Huffington Post "The World We Found is absorbing and resonant." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer "Umrigar renders a vivid portrait of modern-day India as she meditates upon the power of friendship, loyalty, and love. Like her previous works, The World We Found is eloquent and evocative, bitter and sweet." -- Booklist (starred review) "There's ample discussion to be had here on the topics of family, friendship, religion and marriage. Umrigar is a lively storyteller. The women are sympathetic characters, their relationships fully realized and deeply felt. . . . Umrigar's evocative world is one worth finding, indeed." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune "Absorbing. . . . A rewarding novel." -- Publishers Weekly "A storyteller through and through, Umrigar ensures that her characters face up to the costs and consequences created by their choices, right or wrong, principled or unprincipled." -- Washington Post