Scent Of Pepper A Novel

A sprawling saga set in the lush hills of Coorg Deep in Kodagu in south India. nervous seventeen-year-old Nanji is married into the mighty Kaleyanda family presided over by the Rao Bahadur at a time when the British have just annexed this remote province. The kindness of her husband Baliyanna a talented veterinary surgeon eases her entry into a new home even as the British rulers settle into a life fit for royalty amongst coffee and pepper plantations. As Nanji braves her way through thirteen pregnancies her husband?s obsession with the wife of a British planter and the birth of a lame son Subbu she remains resolute and indispensable to her husband and home. Soon however troubles beset the family the British rulers are no longer benevolent one of Baliyanna?s brothers marries a woman with British blood and the Rao Bahadur falls prey to acute depression a disease endemic to the area. To make matters worse Subbu takes to politics begins to wear coarse khadi and show his contempt for alcohol the favoured beverage of the Kodavas ... Kavery Nambisan?s elegiac novel reveals a fierce and independent people and portrays the life of a unique and fascinating family.