Fiction
Ramya’s Treasure
Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2018.
PS8635.E337 R36 2018
Publisher’s Synopsis (from its website)
Ramya, an immigrant from India, is nearing her 50th birthday. But there’s no cause to cheer. Recently separated, and laid off from work as well, she feels lonely, alienated, and despondent. Then one day she chances upon a sandalwood box containing her cherished childhood treasures, and this triggers the need to review her present circumstances.Delving into her past, Ramya tries to find strength to reconstruct her future, to rediscover meaning and purpose. Written with sympathy and humour, the novel has two intertwined threads simultaneously unspooling: one set in the present about Ramya’s battle to rebuild her life; the other, a series of sorties into the past. One narrative skein is Canadian, modern and multicultural, while the other is Indian, steeped in myth and mysticism. They are the two sides of the same coin: the world as seen through the bi-focal lens of immigrant reality.
Fiction (Short Stories)
Weather Permitting & Other Stories
Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2016.
Online book PS8635 .E337 W43 2016eb (access restricted to TMU community members)
Publisher’s Synopsis (from its website)
The stories in this collection centre around new immigrants — spirited people prepared to leave their home and hearth to travel to distant lands in pursuit of dreams of a better life. But often times there’s a reality check, and they are left to grapple with unexpected challenges: cultural shock, lack of Canadian work experience and jobs, absence of affordable daycare, and non-recognition of their educational credentials. Despite this, the stories show the determination of these immigrants to survive on alien soil.
Selected Criticism and Interpretation
Z1376 .S68 C45 2017