Marie-Lou Fernandes

One Marie-Lou Fernandes

This is about us.... From pre-teen Suvan-Yeung stumbling toward manhood in the Australian Outback, to city slicker Nikita balancing her job, marriage, social obligations and secret lover in Mumbai's megapolis; from John, small town America's quintessential marginal man struggling with his debt and mid-life crisis, to Geneva-based retired environmental expert Ngendo facing the futility of her life's work as she prepares for her final journey back to Kenya - each of these characters encounter challenges typical to their times. Inspired by the ancient Vedic concept of asramas or universal life phases, this novel is set over a day, a week, a month and several years in the lives of Suvan-Yeung, Nikita, John and Ngendo. They could be any one of us, caught in the currents of life. Country, race, gender, sexual orientation and other identifiers fall to the wayside as the novel charts and critiques these rites of passage, offering in its stead, a softly etched tableau for the reader's own self-understanding.