by Indra Sinha
First published 2003
In present-day London, the adult children of two women whose lives were destroyed by a brutal unreported crime finally meet. Their mothers suffered in silence after a second murder connected to the notorious Nanavati case that shook 1950s Bombay. That original scandal involved a love triangle between an Indian playboy, an Englishwoman, and her jealous Indian husband. The reverberations reached Prime Minister Nehru's office, but the connected crime that followed remained hidden. Now the children travel to India determined to uncover the mystery and exact cold revenge on the man responsible. They arrive in a Bombay torn apart by riots, where their target still wields enormous power. As they dig deeper into the bazaars and back alleys of the burning city, they discover that seeking justice for their mothers may cost them their lives. The hunt for truth becomes a deadly game where the past refuses to stay buried.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, contemporary
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Bombay, India, London
Period: 1950s, present-day
592 pages · Paperback · Scribner
Content warnings: violence