by Akhil Sharma
First published 2014
Ajay and his brother Birju arrive in America to reunite with their father. The boys marvel at their new world. Everything seems possible in this country so different from India. They adapt to American customs and dream of American futures. Then catastrophe strikes without warning. One brother suffers devastating injuries that leave him unable to care for himself. The other brother watches his family collapse under the weight of medical bills and grief. Their father retreats into himself. Their mother devotes herself entirely to the injured son. Ajay finds himself alone in a country that suddenly feels foreign again. He must navigate school, adolescence, and family responsibility without guidance. The American dream becomes a test of survival.
Genres: literary-fiction, family-life, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: America, India
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
268 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Press
Content warnings: medical-trauma