Every Happiness
A Novel
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
"A bold and moving novel . . . marks the arrival of a radiant new voice." - Megha Majumdar, author of A Guardian and a Thief
Every Happiness is a dazzling debut that explores the ties that bind two women across decades and continents despite rivalry, class difference, and the conflicting needs of family and self.
Deepa and Ruchi are 12 years old when they meet at their Catholic school in India, but their connection is swift and lasting. As the two girls grow up and face their families' expectations and the limits of their ambitions, their friendship is marked by intimacy, jealousy, and suppressed desire.
When, in their twenties, Deepa marries a doctor and moves from India to the suburbs of Connecticut, Ruchi quickly finds an engineer bound for the same state and follows her friend across the world. But life in the United States is different than either woman expects. Deepa's daughter seeks affection Deepa refuses to give, and Ruchi's son resists her smothering care. At the same time, Deepa and Ruchi find their closeness tested by a growing class disparity, competing family needs, and the differences in their desires. Ultimately, when Ruchi discovers a dangerous secret about Deepa's husband's wealth, both women are forced to weigh the tangled bonds of their friendship with their lives, and their families', in the burgeoning Indian American community.
"Moving and unforgettable" (Kimberly King Parsons), Every Happiness explores the slippery edges of a lifelong relationship, and the invisible threads that bind us, sometimes painfully, to those we love most.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the outset of Shah's engrossing debut, 12-year-old Deepa befriends new girl Ruchi at their Bombay Catholic school. Deepa is thought of as ordinary, while the nuns admire Ruchi for her academic promise and determination to become a doctor. As teenagers, she and Deepa experiment with kissing and imagine living together. At 21, Deepa marries Sanjay Jain, a doctor who applies for a work visa in Connecticut. A few years later, Ruchi is arranged to marry Naren Mehta, an engineering grad. The couple follows Deepa to Vernon, Ct., where Deepa has a daughter, Anu, and Ruchi becomes pregnant with her son, Moksh. As their kids grow up, Deepa bonds with the neurodivergent Moksh, whom she recognizes as reserved like herself. Meanwhile, she criticizes Anu's looks and remains willfully ignorant of the girl's queer sexuality. Deepa's family is wealthy thanks to Sanjay's salary, while Naren's poor spending habits relegate Ruchi to a life of debt in a dilapidated neighborhood. Deepa helps Ruchi get a job handling the billing for another doctor at Sanjay's practice, where she discovers that he is engaged in insurance fraud. Bitter and resentful after Deepa begins snubbing her in favor of wealthier friends, Ruchi calls in an anonymous tip that upends their lives. Shah has a talent for teasing out the mysterious nature of desire and the complex bonds of community, family, and friends. This is one to savor.
