The Fertile Earth
A Novel
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
FINALIST FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION'S 2024 FIRST NOVEL PRIZE • FINALIST FOR 2025 CHAUTAUQUA PRIZE • An unforgettable story of love and resistance surrounding two young people born across social lines, set against a tumultuous political landscape in India.
"[A] heart-wrenching tale of forbidden love" —THE WASHINGTON POST
Vijaya and Sree are the daughters of the Deshmukhs of Irumi. Hailing from a lineage of ancestral aristocrats, their family’s social status and power over villagers on their land is absolute. Krishna and Ranga, brothers, are the sons of a widowed servant in the Deshmukh household.
When Vijaya and Krishna meet, they forge an intense bond that is beautiful and dangerous. But after an innocent attempt to hunt down a man-eating tiger in the jungle goes wrong, what happens between the two of them is disastrous, the consequences reverberating through their lives into young adulthood.
Years later, when violent uprisings rip across the countryside and the Marxist, ultra-left Naxalite movement arrives in Irumi, Vijaya and Krishna are forced to navigate the insurmountable differences of land ownership and class warfare in a country that is burning from the inside out—while being irresistibly drawn back to each other, their childhood bond now full of possibilities neither of them are willing to admit.
The Fertile Earth is a vast, ambitious debut that is equal parts historical, political, and human, with the enduring ties of love and family loyalty at its heart. Who can be loved? What are the costs of transgressions? How can justice be measured, and who will be alive to bear witness?
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Ruthvika Rao draws us into spellbinding dreams and gut-wrenching realities in her powerful, decades-spanning debut. Vijaya was born in a time of extreme inequality. Her family, the Deshmukhs, rule over the people of Irumi in southern India with an iron fist, their gilded estate overlooking the lowly villagers who live under their cruel feudal protection. But when a forbidden friendship between Vijaya and her 12-year-old classmate Krishna culminates in a tiger hunt gone devastatingly wrong, their families’ lives are changed forever. We were captivated as the story unfolded over the course of decades, and we got swept up in the lives of Vijaya’s and Krishna’s family members, from Krishna’s hardened older brother and hardworking single mother to Vijaya’s curiously light-skinned sister and brutal, cigar-smoking uncle. The Fertile Earth is a shocking and soul-stirring exploration of class, compassion, and political chaos.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rao's moving debut revolves around a star-crossed friendship. In 1955 Irumi, India, 12-year-old Krishna stands up for Vijaya Deshmukh when their classmates mock her for being the niece of the village's feudal landlord. Even though Vijaya is reluctant to become friends with Krishna, given his lowly status as son of the village washerwoman, she soon warms up to him and asks him to join her in the hunt for a man-eating tiger. During their adventure, Vijaya's sister, Sree, is gravely injured. In the aftermath, the Deshmukhs are eager to keep Krishna and Vijaya apart and offer him the chance to study in Hyderabad on the condition that his older brother, Ranga, never leaves Irumi and continues to serve them. After this bargain, Krishna doesn't see anyone from Irumi for 10 years. He pursues a PhD in mathematics and reunites with Vijaya at a fair in Irumi, where their connection is as strong as ever, prompting them to consider marriage, until a catastrophic incident occurs involving Ranga, who's become a radical communist. Rao's beautiful story is packed with intricate family dynamics, politics, and tragedy. This is splendid.
