Swerving to solitude: letters to Mama

✍ Scribed by Keki N. Daruwalla

• Book ID: 100075356
• Publisher: S&S India;Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 141 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN: 9386797232

✦ Synopsis

A young Seema discovers a cache of letters and papers in a locker belonging to her deceased mother. Besides chronicling her far-roving life across Canada, USA, Mexico, and India, these offer a glimpse into her private history—her feelings for M, a major leader of the Communist movement in British India and abroad; her commitment to, not only him, but also his cause; and her struggle to keep alive her feelings for him after his disenchantment with Communism.

Even as Seema's mother grows increasingly cynical about the Communist cause, Seema blossoms into a rebel, voicing her dissent during the Emergency. If her insurgent spirit is curtailed, it is on account of a marriage that cramps her style. All at once, Seema's story crisscrosses with her mother's—as both women try making sense of lackluster alliances; as both find comfort in letters.

A deftly woven tale spanning India's pre- and post-Independence history, Letters to Mamma is, above all, a...