Book dossier

Small days and nights

by Tishani Doshi

"A captivating and original story of two sisters caught in a moment of transformation, set against the vivid backdrop of modern India. Escaping her failing marriage, Grace Marisola has returned to Pondicherry from the United States to cremate her mother. Once there, she receives an inheritance she could not have expected-a property on the beaches of Madras-and discovers a sister she never knew she had: Lucia, who was born with Down Syndrome and has spent her life in a residential facility. Grace sets up a new and precarious life with Lucia; the housekeeper, Mallika; drily witty Auntie Kavitha; and an ever- multiplying litter of puppies. But Grace's attempts to leave her old self behind and create a new family prove first a struggle, then a strain, as she discovers the chaos, tenderness, fury and bewilderment of life with Lucia. [...] Small Days and Nights is a story of the ties that bind, the secrets we bury, and the sacrifices we make to forge lives that have meaning"--