Winner of the QWF McAuslan Award

These twelve delightful linked stories begin in a small village on India's Malabar coast. The Variyars are a traditional matriarchal family, large and close knit, their children are numerous and spoilt, and life revolves around the temple. The family and its fortunes are described through the perecptions of its various members, particularly the younger ones. "Blues from the Malabar Coast" describes the life of the family, dominated from dusk till dawn by the old grandmother in the kitchen... In "Leela's Dream," a young widow gives birth to a daughter whom - by invoking an old custom - she promises to the son of a beloved brother who will soon marry; the young couple so engaged are Ven and Seema. In "Greener pastures" they arrive in Quebec City, whose winters Ven adores and where Seema recalls the life of her family. In "Going Back" Seema returns for the cremation of her father, an honest, unassuming tax inspector with whom she has wandered the length and breadth of India.

Joyful, poignant, and sad, this wonderful collection tells a story in its many stories, of a village and its people, of a nation, and of our times.

Nalini Warriar's profile page

Nalini Warriar was born in Kerala, India, and grew up in Assam and Bombay. Warriar, a molecular biologist, has lived in Germany and France before settling in Canada in 1986. She has a doctorate from Laval University ub Quebec City, where she now lives with her husband and their two children.

Reviews: Blues from the Malabar Coast?eautiful and gripping stories written with a seasoned maturity.??USTIN CLARKE