Renuka

The friendship between Renuka a Bengali poet and Rachel an American missionary lies at the heart of this novel. Two women from entirely different backgrounds they share a bond that overcomes the barriers of nationality race and religion. Both are exiled to a hill station which is populated with provincial and prudish memsahibs who adjust their recipes to compensate for the altitude and substitute ingredients from home. While Rachel's husband works at a psychiatric hospital in the plains in Ranchi she looks after their sons who attend a mission school in the hills. While editing a cookbook Rachel begins to realize the contradictions within her community. She also discovers the seductive voice of Renuka's poetry. Renuka Stephen Alter's fourth novel builds to a startling climax while uncovering hidden truths about love sexuality and passion. In Renuka Alter has drawn a remarkable portrait of a totally credible woman he captures exactly the love-hate attitudes of Westerners who spend time in the subcontinent. A rare achievement to use a simple framework so effectively'Sarah Curtis Times Literary Supplement Renuka is a most accomplished utterly convincing study of two women of different backgrounds and contrasting temperaments. The book rises to a moving climax followed by an adagio of lingering sadness” like the aftermath of a disturbing dream” by far Alter's best'John Mellors Books by Stephen Alter Renuka Neglected Lives Amritsar to Lahore Crossing the Border Between India and Pakistan All the Way to Heaven An American Boyhood in the Himalayas Sacred Waters A Pilgrimage to the Many Sources of the Ganga Elephas Maximus A Portrait of the Indian Elephant Fantasies of a Bollywood Love Thief Inside the World of Indian Moviemaking The Penguin Book of Modern Indian Short Stories