John Mathew
This is the story of a single mother Alice, professionally a trained nurse and her young daughter Merlyn trying to immigrate to the United States during early 1970s. In the background the novelist tells the history of Delhi depicting refugee problem from Pakistan immediately after India’s independence, Communist revolution activities, problems of migrant Malayalee community and their involvement with business leaders. In the next section the story goes back to Alice family’s centuries old migration to the banks of Manimala River in central Travancore. Their farming practices, relationship with land-lords and religious connections lead them to explore the possibilities of better life all over the world. The third section is Alice and her daughter in the United States. Here the novelist discusses life in Houston’s energy-corridor. Finaly by the end of 1990s Merlyn and her boyfriend from Caribbean Islands, who himself is a descendant of indentured migrants from India almost a century ago, going back to India to explore their ancestral land.
