Smita

Smita is an Indian-American journalist who returns to India for the first time, after her family fled Mumbai during her childhood, to help her friend Shannon who is undergoing surgery. She struggles to separate her childhood trauma from the culture of India but feels professionally obligated to stay and cover the story of Meena’s lawsuit. Smita travels to Birwad to interview Meena and develops an intimate relationship with Mohan, Shannon’s friend, as they navigate rural India together.

Throughout the beginning of the novel, Smita alludes to her childhood and abhorrence for religious stratification and adherence to traditional gender roles within India. She agrees to divulge her past to Mohan when he hears her using a Muslim greeting with her father after she told him she was Hindu. Smita was born into a Muslim family and lived in Mumbai until a gang of Hindu theocrats molested her...