Damage

Provocative work of fiction that explores the fragile nature of Indian secularism and the constant threat to it from fundamentalists of all faiths. A brilliant first novel about old age, dysfunctional relationships and the disorientation of beliefs, Damage is the story of Beatrice, a fanatical Indian Christian missionary and Gudda, her youngest daughter, a missionary-hater, separated from her husband and therefore doomed to be the one out of four sisters to return home to look after an ailing mother. With a shrilly evangelical mother, a broken marriage and sisters who suspect she is around only to usurp the family property, Gudda is already insecure when a new government comes to power in New Delhi at whose behest Christians are brutally attacked all over India. Gudda is caught between her dislike for her kin and a growing sense of kinship with the community and faith she has for so long ignored. Amrita Lila Kumar has been editor-in-chief, Roli Books, associate editor, Penguin Books India, managing editor, Encyclopedia Britannica, and freelance editor with Rupa& Co. and HarperCollins. She is currently senior editor with Osian's literary agency in New Delhi. This is her first novel.