Rishi Reddi

A sweeping, vibrant first novel following a family of Indian sharecroppers at the onset of World War I, revealing a little-known part of California history 1913: Ram Singh arrives in California's Imperial Valley, reluctantly accepting his friend Karak's offer to come work on a small cantaloupe farm. Ram is unmoored: fleeing a traumatic incident in Oregon, he desperately longs to return to his wife and newborn son in India--but is duty-bound to make his fortune first. In the Valley, civilization is still new and the rules are ever-shifting. Alongside Karak, his uncle Jivan, and Jivan's nephew Amarjeet, Ram joins in the struggle to make ends meet as a sharecropper in the unforgiving desert. The Valley is full of immigrants from other continents and the stakes are unceasingly high--just one bad harvest or unfair sale could destabilize the entire family. As anti-immigrant sentiment begins to rise among the white Valley residents, and as new laws are passed to support their position, all immigrants are threatened and there is murder in the air. The livelihood for which the family sacrificed everything is suddenly at risk. And when a simmering rivalry develops between Ram and Karak, the tensions of life in the West threaten to finally boil over. In this unforgettable debut novel, Rishi Reddi unflinchingly asks the foundational question: Who is welcome in America? Atmospheric and richly told, Passage West offers a profoundly moving portrait of a cobbled-together family in search of belonging.

Passage West

Karma and Other Stories (P.S.)

In this sparkling collection, award-winning writer Rishi Reddi weaves a multigenerational tapestry of interconnected lives, depicting members of an Indian American community struggling to balance the demands of tradition with the allure of Western life. In "Lord Krishna," a teenager is offended when his evangelical history teacher likens the Hindu deity to Satan, but ultimately forgives the teacher against his father's wishes. In the title story, "Karma," an unemployed professor rescues birds in downtown Boston after his wealthy brother kicks him out of his home. In "Justice Shiva Ram Murthy," which appeared in The Best American Short Stories 2005, an irascible retired judge reconnects with a childhood friend while adjusting to a new life with his daughter and her American husband. In "Devadasi," a beautiful young woman raised in the United States travels back to India and challenges the sexual confines of her culture. And in "Bangles," a widow decides to return to her native village to flee her son's off-putting American ways. Set mostly in the Boston area, with side trips to an isolated immigrant community in Wichita, Kansas, and the characters' hometown of Hyderabad, India, Karma and Other Stories introduces a luminous new voice.

Rishi Reddi

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