Böcker av Selma Carvalho

In his younger days, Alfred Hughes had been quite the Nineties revolutionary athis university in England, clad in faded army fatigues and smoking Cuban cigars.They called him Ché Freddo. His comrades-in-arms were Nido-Nitin-sonof divorced Indian immigrants, and Eugenia-ardent admirer of Sylvia Plath,who believed that one had to sacrifice everything for a cause, be fearless indeath. Into this mix came Anju Kale, of British-Asian heritage, the only child of adisheartened Indian Marxist father and a submissive, but wealthy, English mother,and her entry into this tightly-knit group caused all equations to shift and change.As time goes by, Freddo gives up revolution for the security of a collegeprofessorship, Nido for a job at Goldman Sachs. Anju marries Freddo and triesto come to terms with his serial philandering, in a marriage precariously heldtogether by middle-class sensibilities. And the devastating secret about whathappened to Eugenia.Until Anju too finds herself caught in an extra-marital relationship. Trappedbetween the need for fulfilment and a love of stability, Anju must redefine what itmeans to be a family.In prose that is lyrical and beguiling, Selma Carvalho weaves a story about amarriage that is tender, startling and wise in turn.This masterful work from the author of the remarkable fiction debut, Sisterhood ofSwans, confirms Carvalho's place in the literary firmament.

DescriptionAnna-Marie Souza lives in Horton, a suburb on the hem of London, a farcry from the city of Bombay from which her parents had arrived one coldDecember day in 1989, two Goans in search of a new life. Born in this landof their dreams, raised in a broken home, Anna-Marie has grown up into astate of constant and indefinable yearning. She belongs to the sisterhood ofswans seeking to pair for life, curving their necks to entwine with the perfectmate. Only, she has realized, her species is fated to disappointment. Herdisastrous choice in men is fuelled not just by a chaotic childhood but by a lossof sexual agency as she embarks on a series of doomed relationships.Set against a cast of intriguing female characters-Anna-Marie's Indian-hatingIndian mother; her best mate, Sujata, haunted by thoughts of suicide; andJassie, the sharp-tongued beautician at Bollywood Style Salon-is an ensembleof men who are serial philanderers or, worse still, token brown Conservativeparty members. In this shaky world, Anna-Marie navigates through the pain ofa troubled coming of age, while trying to find her place as a second-generationIndian immigrant.