I really enjoyed this book, in as much as you can enjoy a book where the characters get hit with hardship after hardship and no one seems particularly happy by the end 👀 It’s a tough one for sure, but the writing was lovely to listen to, and the emotions all feel so very real.

Lucky is a lesbian Sri Lankan woman living in the US, married to Krishna, a gay man, both using each other as beards for their families’ sake. But a marriage of convenience is no substitute for the real thing, and when Lucky returns to her mother’s house to look after her ailing grandmother, she’s reunited with Nisha - her first love and best friend. Nisha doesn’t know the truth about Lucky’s marriage, and is about to get married herself.

I thought the author did a great job of showing all the different paths we can take, the choices we’re faced with and how we make them. Lucky chose to stay at home, allied with her divorced mother who is a constant source of gossip and shame in their close-knit Sri Lankan community. But by doing so, she agrees to hide away a major part of herself, to shut her queerness down to fit in. Meanwhile, one of her sisters takes the opposite path, cutting ties with her family to live life on her own terms. Then there’s Nisha… Nisha is an extremely frustrating character, but one I can still empathise with. She acts very selfishly, but she’s motivated by fear. I can’t imagine how it might feel to be teetering on the edge of completely alienating yourself from everyone you know and love.

 

My second book from Sindu, and just as sad as Blue Skinned Gods!