Darjeeling
by Bharti Kirchner
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Description
Novelist and award-winning cookbook author Bharti Kirchner has written a sweeping family saga, a first class fiction about forbidden love and family honor. Set in the mountainous tea plantations of Darjeeling, India and in New York City,Darjeeling is the story of two sisters - Aloka and Sujata - long separated by their love for Pranab, an idealistic young revolutionary. Pranab loves Sujata, the awkward, prickly, younger sister but, out of obligation, marries Aloka, the gracious, beautiful, show more older sister. When all of their secrets are revealed, the three are forced to leave Darjeeling. Aloka and Pranab flee to New York City and Sujata to Canada. The story opens ten years later, when their Grandmother summons everyone home to the familytea plantation to celebrate her birthday. Despite the fact that Aloka is still very much in love with Pranab, they are in the process of getting a divorce. Sujata, who is still single, runs a successful business importing tea, a business that doesn't fill her broken heart. This trip forces the sisters to wrestle with their bitterness and anger and to try to heal old wounds. What complicates matters is that Pranab, too, is going to India and is intent on rekindling his relationship with Sujata now that his marriage is over. Although filled with the rich foods, smells, and social confines of another culture,Darjeeling is really about the universally human emotions of jealousy, rivalry, love, and honor. It is a complex novel about family, exile, sisterly relations, and how one incident can haunt us for the rest of our lives. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Two sisters, now living in North America, are still bitter about their relationships with the same man. It’s not until they return to India for their grandmother’s birthday. Although, the storyline was predictable, the story was worth reading.
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Author Information
19+ Works 508 Members
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Darjeeling
- Original title
- Darjeeling
- Original publication date
- 2002
- Epigraph*
- Der Blätter sind viele, die Wurzel ist ein' ...
Durch all meiner Jugend lughaften Lauf
Schwenkt Blätter und Blumen zur Sonne ich auf ...
Nun möchte ich welken zur Wahrheit hinein.
William Bu... (show all)tler Yeats
Tee ist schlichtweg dies:
Erst kocht man das Wasser,
Dann brüht man den Tee.
Dann trinkt man ihn richtig.
Mehr Wissen bedarf es nicht.
Sen No Rikyu
Teemeister aus dem Sechzehnten Jahrhundert - Dedication*
- Zur Erinnerung an meine Mutter -
damit wir Darjeeling nicht vergessen - First words*
- Herbst 2000
Aloka Gupta blickte aus dem Fenster ihres Apartments hinab auf das graubraune Treiben in der 52. Straße von Manhattan; ihre Gedanken schweiften in die Heimat ihrer Kindheit und zu der familieneigenen Teep... (show all)lantage in Darjeeling. - Last words*
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Sie war hergekommen, um Sujata zu finden.
- Publisher's editor*
- McFall, Linda
- Blurbers*
- Divakaruni, Chitra
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 92
- Popularity
- 348,934
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.31)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, German
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 2
