Taken under the wing of an expat teacher for her ambition and talent, Anjali Bose hopes to escape unfavorable prospects and falls in with a crowd of young people in Bangalore, where she endeavors to confront her past and reinvent herself.

Told by fictional immigrants, the tales of arrival and survival spun by Mukherjee's protagonists often paralyze the reader with their realism. They come from Italy, Trinidad, Israel, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Philippines and elsewhere to build new lives in such places as Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Manhattan and Miami. For all the troubles the immigrants endure, Mukherjee's portrayal of them as dauntless participants in the American experiment serves to empower...

Jilted by her boyfriend, Debby DiMartino burns down his house. Surprised by her violence, Debby seeks to learn who she really is. Born in India, she was adopted by a couple from Schenectady, New York. Debby discovers her mother was an American hippie who had an affair with an Indian serial killer, whom she subsequently denounced. Next time Debby becomes violent with a man, she knows why. By an Indian-American writer, author of The Holder of the World....

"In this collection of essays, women talk about their hair-- and in doing so, offer up reflections and revelations about family, race, religion, ritual, culture, motherhood, politics, and celebrity. Layered into these essays you'll find surprises, insights, hilarity, and the resonance of common experience. Many things in life matter more than hair, but few bring as much pleasure as a really great hairdo." --