S. J. Sindu

​​A necessary and exciting addition to both the Sri Lankan-American and LGBTQ canons, SJ Sindu's debut novel Marriage of a Thousand Lies offers a moving and sharply rendered​ exploration of friendship, family, love, and loss. Lucky and her husband, Krishna, are gay. They present an illusion of marital bliss to their conservative Sri Lankan-American families, while each dates on the side. It's not ideal, but for Lucky, it seems to be working. She goes out dancing, she drinks a bit, she makes ends meet by doing digital art on commission. But when Lucky's grandmother has a nasty fall, Lucky returns to her childhood home and unexpectedly reconnects with her former best friend and first lover, Nisha, who is preparing for her own arranged wedding with a man she's never met. As the connection between the two women is rekindled, Lucky tries to save Nisha from entering a marriage based on a lie. But does Nisha really want to be saved? And after a decade's worth of lying, can Lucky break free of her own circumstances and build a new life? Is she willing to walk away from all that she values about her parents and community to live in a new truth? As Lucky--an outsider no matter what choices she makes--is pushed to the breaking point, Marriage of a Thousand Lies offers a vivid exploration of a life lived at a complex intersection of race, sexuality, and nationality. The result is a profoundly American debut novel shot through with humor and loss, a story of love, family, and the truths that define us all.

Marriage of a Thousand Lies

SJ Sindu

Lucky is an unemployed millennial programmer. Her husband, Krishna, is an editor for a greeting card company. Both are secretly gay, presenting their conservative Sri Lankan-American families with a heterosexual front while dating on the side. When Lucky's grandmother falls, Lucky returns to her mother's home and unexpectedly reconnects with her childhood friend and first lover, Nisha. When the two rekindle old romantic feelings, Lucky tries to save Nisha from entering a marriage based on a lie and finds herself pushed to breaking point. A moving exploration of love and queerness.

azliana aziz

marriage of (in)convenience between two queer people. i admit that going in, i was expecting stories from both side, lucky and kris. it would be nice to get both of their perspectives but the author's decision to keep a tight focus on this story to be about lucky was well worth it. 


'we should be happy,' he says. 
'we did this to be happy.'
'maybe it just wasn't in the stars for us.'

*

'most people think the closet is a small room. they think you can touch the walls, touch the door, turn the handle, and walk free. but when you're inside it, the closet is vast. no walls, no door, just empty darkness stretching the length of the world.'

reading this was suffocating. in a good sense. in a way that you feel your soul broke piece by piece. sindu's evocative prose contribute to that experience a lot.


what i truly appreciate and should be applauded to the moon and back was the way sindu captured the dynamic and complexity of female relationship. between a mother and a daughter. an older sister to another sister. lover to lover. friend to friend. stepmother to stepdaughter. ex wife to new wife.
all of these (and more!) and sindu managed to laid it bare for us to understand, not necessarily for us to relate or even like but to see that there are always layers and layers to people. that our connection is multi faceted and there's not a single, correct way to live through it too.


a worthy addition to lgbqt literature.

Zahia Saeed 

** spoiler alert **
           This is the most boring book I have read

“What a gorgeous, heartbreaking novel.”—Roxane Gay ​​ A necessary and exciting addition to both the Sri Lankan-American and LGBTQ canons, SJ Sindu's debut novel offers a moving and sharply rendered​ exploration of friendship, family, love, and loss. Lucky and her husband, Krishna, are gay. They present an illusion of marital bliss to their conservative Sri Lankan–American families, while each dates on the side. It’s not ideal, but for Lucky, it seems to be working. She goes out dancing, she drinks a bit, she makes ends meet by doing digital art on commission. But when Lucky’s grandmother has a nasty fall, Lucky returns to her childhood home and unexpectedly reconnects with her former best friend and first lover, Nisha, who is preparing for her own arranged wedding with a man she’s never met. As the connection between the two women is rekindled, Lucky tries to save Nisha from entering a marriage based on a lie. But does Nisha really want to be saved? And after a decade’s worth of lying, can Lucky break free of her own circumstances and build a new life? Is she willing to walk away from all that she values about her parents and community to live in a new truth? As Lucky—an outsider no matter what choices she makes—is pushed to the breaking point, Marriage of a Thousand Lies offers a vivid exploration of a life lived at a complex intersection of race, sexuality, and nationality. The result is a profoundly American debut novel shot through with humor and loss, a story of love, family, and the truths that define us all.

Marriage of a Thousand Lies

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