Cranes' morning

by Indrani Aikath-Gyaltsen

Indrani Aikath-Gyaltsen's first novel, Daughters of the House, was a "wondrous accomplishment," in Amy Tan's words, marking a literary debut of "a major discovery in literature." The Baltimore Sun hailed her subtle tale of four women in rural India as "penetrating and beautifully written." Now, in her new novel, Aikath-Gyaltsen deepens her vision of village life in India, delving intimately into the yearnings of the human heart and the secret inner struggle between tradition and desire. Eccentric, intellectual, born to easy manners and with a taste for aesthetic pleasures, the Kushari family of the lost valley town of Mohurpukur lives on faded memories and suppressed emotions. All that remains of their wealth is the shell of the Big House, a shabbily splendid mansion overwhelmed by an unkempt rose garden; all that remains of their aristocratic heritage is an inbred sense of duty toward the townspeople. Kunal, the last male of the Kushari line and now the principal of the local college,