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In Ronica Dhar's powerful debut, her title character, Bijou Roy, is blissfully experiencing the enchantments of first love, her father passes away, leaving her closed off and shaky. Her career and relationship in limbo, she travels to India to scatter his remains--a ritual traditionally performed by a son--in the river that runs through his native city. However, she doesn't find the peace she hoped to find in laying her father to rest. Instead, she meets Naveen, the son of her father’s closest comrade and discovers the intimate details of his political past. Bijou is suddenly swept away in the mysteries of love, grief, and family histories, finding herself caught between two suitors and two countries. Struggling to understand her place in the world, she finds the only way to move forward, is to replace sorrow with hope.
Ronica Dhar was a 2006 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Fiction and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan. She lives in New York City.
Nitish Roy left Calcutta for the United Sates. There he and his wife raised two daughters in America. When Nitish dies, having no sons, his oldest daughter Bijou agrees to take her beloved father back to India for a proper burial. Her mother and younger sister accompany Bijou who serves as the surrogate male in honor of her dad.
In India as his family prepares to spread Nitish's ashes ehilr Bijou meets the son of her late father's best friend, Naveen. Attracted to Naveen, Bijou believes he might be able to shed some light as to why her father left India and never returned until now. As she begins to understand Nitish's political fiascos that led to his and his wife's emigrating to the United States, she also looks deep at her family's heritage and her Americanization; finding little comfort in either.
Bijou makes the tale entertaining and insightful, as she struggles to learn her parents' culture and why they left India behind while also wondering where she belongs. The cast is incredibly strong as they bring to life contemporary India as seen through the lens of assimilated Indian-Americans. Fans will enjoy Bijou's growing disconcerting awareness that she does not feel she fits in either world.
Harriet Klausner
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Overview
In Ronica Dhar's powerful debut, her title character, Bijou Roy, is blissfully experiencing the enchantments of first love, her father passes away, leaving her closed off and shaky. Her career and relationship in limbo, she travels to India to scatter his remains--a ritual traditionally performed by a son--in the river that runs through his native city. However, she doesn't find the peace she hoped to find in laying her father to rest. Instead, she meets Naveen, the son of her father’s closest ...