The Mango Season

The Mango Season

From the acclaimed author of A Breath of Fresh Air, this beautiful novel takes us to modern India during the height of the summerâ€™s mango season. Heat, passion, and controversy explode as a woman is forced to decide between romance and tradition.

Every young Indian leaving the homeland for the United States is given the following orders by their parents: Donâ€™t eat any cow (Itâ€™s still sacred!), donâ€™t go out too much, save (and save, and save) your money, and most important, do not marry a foreigner. Priya Rao left India when she was twenty to study in the U.S., and sheâ€™s never been back. Now, seven years later, sheâ€™s out of excuses. She has to return and give her family the news: Sheâ€™s engaged to Nick Collins, a kind, loving American man. Itâ€™s going to break their hearts.

Returning to India is an overwhelming experience for Priya. When she was growing up, summer was all about mangoesâ€”ripe, sweet mangoes, bursting with juices that dripped down your chin, hands, and neck. But after years away, she sweats as if sheâ€™s never been through an Indian summer before. Everything looks dirtier than she remembered. And things that used to seem natural (a buffalo strolling down a newly laid asphalt road, for example) now feel totally chaotic.

But Priyaâ€™s relatives remain the same. Her mother and father insist that itâ€™s time they arranged her marriage to a â€œnice Indian boy.â€ Her extended family talks of nothing but marriageâ€”particularly the marriage of her uncle Anand, which still has them reeling. Not only did Anand marry a woman from another Indian state, but he also married for love. Happiness and love are not the point of her grandparentsâ€™ or her parentsâ€™ union. In her familyâ€™s rule book, duty is at the top of the list.

Just as Priya begins to feel she canâ€™t possibly tell her family that sheâ€™s engaged to an American, a secret is revealed that leaves her stunned and off-balance. Now she is forced to choose between the love of her family and Nick, the love of her life.

As sharp and intoxicating as sugarcane juice bought fresh from a market cart, The Mango Season is a delightful trip into the heart and soul of both contemporary India and a woman on the edge of a profound life change.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Paperback
ReleaseDate 2004-10-26
UnitCount 1
EANs 9780345450319

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Paperback
ReleaseDate	2004-10-26
UnitCount	1
EANs	9780345450319

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