Freedom Song

"Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, a graceful depiction of middle-class Calcutta, seen through the lives of two interlinked families living in the city during the 1990s. Freedom Song, set in in 1993, is about the city and two families who live there. The first consists of a couple, Khuku and her husband Shib; their son has been living for a few years in America. Khuku's old friend Mini is visiting them while she recuperates from arthritis. Khuku and Mini spend their time talking about family, friends, health and, occasionally, Muslims and the Babri Masjid. Not far away, in Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Road, lives the second family: Khuku's brother Bhola, his wife, their son Bhaskar and daughter Piyu; a second son, Manik, has gone to live in Germany. Bhaskar, much to the consternation of the family, has recently joined the Indian Communist Party, disappears to sell the party newspaper Ganashakti (People's Power) and has become active in street theater"--