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The Toss of a Lemon
by Padma Viswanathan
- Used
- Paperback
- Condition
- Used
- Seller
-
Luddenham, New South Wales, Australia
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: UWA Publishing, 2009. Used. Inspired by her family history, Padma Viswanathan brings us deep inside the private lives of a Brahmin family as the subcontinent moves through sixty years of intense social and political change. At the novel's heart is Sivakami, a captivating girl-child married at ten to an astrologer and village healer who is drawn to her despite his horoscope, which foretells an early death - depending on how the stars align when their children are born. The Toss of a Lemon is heartbreaking and exhilarating, profoundly exotic and yet utterly recognizable in evoking the tensions that change brings to every family's doorstep. It is also the debut of a major new voice in world fiction. Listen to the author discuss The Toss of a Lemon on YouTube
Synopsis
The year of the marriage proposal, Sivakami is ten. She is neither tall nor short for her age, but she will not grow much more. Her shoulders are narrow but appear solid, as though the blades are fused to protect her heart from the back. She carries herself with an attractive stiffness: her shoulders straight and always aligned. She looks capable of bearing great burdens, not as though born to yoke but perhaps as though born with a yoke within her. Spanning the lifetime of one woman (1896–1962), The Toss of a Lemon brings us intimately into a Brahmin household, into an India we’ve never before seen. Married at ten, widowed at eighteen, left with two children, Sivakami must wear widow’s whites, shave her head, and touch no one from dawn to dusk. She is not allowed to remarry, and in the next sixty years she ventures outside her family compound only three times. She is extremely orthodox in her behavior except for one defiant act: She moves back to her dead husband’s house and village to raise her children. That decision sets the course of her children’s and grandchildren’s lives, twisting their fates in surprising, sometimes heartbreaking ways. Inspired by her grandmother's stories, Padma Viswanathan masterfully brings to life a profoundly exotic yet utterly recognizable family in the midst of social and political upheaval. The Toss of a Lemon is the debut of a major new writer.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Petes Loved Books
(AU)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- Product_5055
- Title
- The Toss of a Lemon
- Author
- Padma Viswanathan
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Binding
- Paperback
- Publisher
- UWA Publishing
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2009
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Bookseller catalogs
- www.peteslovedbooks.com;
Terms of Sale
Petes Loved Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Petes Loved Books
Biblio member since 2021
Luddenham, New South Wales
About Petes Loved Books
Used Books across all genres in excellent condition. Rare, collectable, fantasy, fiction, self help, business and non fiction with hard covers or paperback available across a range of prices
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