Sister India

Sister India

Travelers become captives in the Saraswati Guest House when inter-religious violence traps them in the ancient town of Varanasi, India, on the sacred Ganges River with the eccentric guest-house keeper, Madame Natraja. A first novel. 12,500 first printing. To immerse oneself in a different culture can seem romantic and mind expanding, not to mention spirit cleansing and nourishing. But immersion also implies the risk of drowning, a point clearly made by journalist-travel writer Payne, who creates a poetic mosaic of sights, smells, sounds, and tastes as she limns a square mile of Varanasi, an ancient Indian city and pilgrimage site. The haze from continuously burning funeral pyres, the pleas of impoverished children, the smells of the perfume market, and the droning rhythms of holy men chanting by the sacred Ganges overtake the senses and both disgust and enthrall the Western travelers staying at the Saraswati Guest House. Situated in the middle of Varanasi's frighteningly tangled maze of claustrophobic lanes barely wide enough for two small wheeled carts, the establishment's manager is the sari-clad Madame Natraja, a reclusive, surly white woman weighing more than 300 pounds, a mysterious and fascinating blend of East and West. When religious murders leads to a curfew, the travelers become captives of Madame, her house, and the violent city where death becomes everyone's familiar. Whitney Scott Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved ...Peggy Payne has created a character as big as her territory, which is to say larger than life. -- Tony Wheeler, editor, Lonely Planet guides ...a mesmerizing, hypnotic story of discovery and redemption that illuminates a part of the world...Peggy Payne's rich tapestry of images.... -- Gail Harris, creator and host, PBS Body & Soul series ...a powerful work of fiction, a suspenseful story of murder...a compelling drama, vividly told...keep you turning the pages. -- Lucy McCauley, editor, A Woman's Path: Women's Best Spiritual Travel Writing ...its arresting imagery, Sister India is that rarity, an utterly original novel. It is both profound and mesmerizing. -- Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace A poetic evocation of contemporary India as well as of the human spirit. With its insights into clashing cultures.... -- Dan Wakefield, author of How Do We Know When It's God? Peggy Payne's story is not a comfortable one, but neither is it easily resisted. -- C. Michael Curtis, senior editor, The Atlantic Monthly Author Peggy Payne will be happy to talk with your book group by speakerphone without charge if you are reading her new novel Sister India. She'll answer your questions and discuss her time living in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. She'll talk as well about the book publication process, and explain how she came to write about a woman who weighs 400 pounds, and another character gripped by irrational obsessions. She'll talk for as much as an hour about this odd love story in an exotic setting. ppayne51@cs. Peggy Payne is a journalist and travel writer who has published articles on more than twenty-five countries. She has been the recipient of an NEA grant to study fiction at Berkeley, and an Indo-American Fellowship to research this novel in Varanasi. Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including God: Stories and New Stories from the South .