Author:Priya Basil
'Take off your clothes I want to see you' Karam said.Just a few words, spoken like a caress made Sarna start wondering. Where did he learn such new and passionate techniques?
When Sarna Singh leaves the lustrous green hills of Uganda for England, streets of cramped old houses were not what she was expecting. Husband Karam has been seduced by the historical feel of the city of London. Sarna, however, is convinced they have moved to England so he can visit his secret London lady friends. Sarna has a secret of her own, but she is adept at hiding it. She impresses her English teacher with her attempt at a cutglass accent, and copious gifts of delicious food. With two children to educate, money is scarce, and soon, she is devising weekly shoplifting expeditions to the supermarket.
But all the while, Sarna is tormented by a mistake she made as a young woman in India. To stifle unwanted memories, she cooks zealously, sweetening her thoughts with syrup, or suffocating them with the hottest spice she can find. But when she receives an unexpected letter from back home, her assumed equilibrium is shattered to the skies. It carries an ultimatum she cannot ignore ...
Set on an epic backdrop from Partition, the Coronation and Churchill's funeral, to the present day, Priya Basil explores with compassion, the universal complexities of vanity and love. Her sensuous portrayal of the trials and tribulations of the Singh family carries universal truths for all of us.
With a verve for the colour of life, this book . . . surprises with its underlying wisdom
—— 6 Great Reads, Good HousekeepingAn enticing debut novel by a much-vaunted young novelist
—— The Glasgow HeraldA brilliantly woven tale . . . clever and often funny
—— CandisA dark meditation on escapism and reinvention
—— Irish TatlerThe product of a deft hand that mixes engrossing narrative with unexpected dashes of magical realism
—— India TodayAn astonishing novel
—— ExBerlinerIf you liked The Shaking Woman by Siri Hustvedt, you'll love Bitter in the Mouth by Monique Truong... a tale of friendship, loyalty, love, family, and above all, the mysteries that make us who we are
—— TatlerWith a heroine who literally eats words, Truong is amply aware of the power of them... she wields her narrative like a quarterstaff, knocking readers' expectations right out from under them
—— Washington PostMonique Truong creates a world so subtle, mysterious, moving and sensory that it heightens our consciousness of those qualities in our own. Bitter in the Mouth is the rare novel that makes one life story unique and universal at the same time
—— Gloria SteinemBe prepared for a full range of tastes of life in Bitter in the Mouth: friendship, loyalty, love, family, and above all, the mysteries at every corner of one's history that make us who we are. Monique Truong is a great observer and a beautiful writer
—— Yiyun LiA terrific writer... She's changed my perception on life
—— Anna ChancellorA classic of contemporary Americana... variously funny and horrifying and finally, quietly, terribly moving
—— Los Angeles TimesA book that should join those few that every literate person will have to read
—— Boston GlobeA novelist who knows what a proper story is . . . [Tyler is] not only a good and artful writer, but a wise one as well
—— NewsweekIn her ninth novel she has arrived at a new level of power
—— The New Yorker
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