Ten Avatars

Ten avatars of woman are explored through the telling of little incidents and big turning points in the lives of female protagonists: a little child amidst parental dissonance a girl at puberty becoming vulnerable to predators a cynical teenager struggling with her national identity a young graduate student returning to travel in her native land an arrange-married wife striving for independence after emigrating a single woman seeing the reflection of herself in a white man a first-time mother struggling with motherhood away from home a divorced woman reinventing herself in foreign land an early-forties woman embracing the truth of her sexuality and a woman in her twilight years reflecting back. This collection of stories weaves together intimate cross-cultural experiences with variegated vignettes unique to the Indian- American expatriate experience in contemporary times yet reveals the universal essence of being female.