Bijou Roy

In her deft debut, Dhar examines the consequences of secrets shared between families against the politically charged backdrop of modern India. As the eldest of two daughters, U.S.-raised Bijou Roy struggles to fulfill traditional male roles for the burial of her father, Nitish, culminating in a trip with her mother and sister to Calcutta to scatter his ashes. In the unfamiliar country, each step of the process reinforces Bijou's alienation, from the people and culture as well as from her mother, who continues to keep Nitish's past shrouded in secrecy. It's only after meeting Naveen, the son of Nitish's oldest friend, that Bijou begins to comprehend her father's political entanglements and the reasons her parents migrated years before. As she learns more about her father, Bijou predictably gains insight into her own character, but Bijou's struggle to reconcile tradition with the demands of the modern world is propelled by skillful, luminous prose. (July)