Description
They are known as the turbaned tide. Novelist DIYA DAS explores the
journey made by Indian immigrants from the subcontinent to America’s
shores. Weaving the narrative as historical fiction, the novel focuses
on a young girl who uncovers the American roots of her Indian family
tree.
The story unfolds in three venues. The protagonist discovers a
Californian ancestor, a scholar-turned-farmworker who participated in
the 1917-18 Ghadr movement to gain Indian independence from Great
Britain. She then follows the voyage of a doctor aunt who immigrated to
Chicago in the 1970s and was also a newspaper columnist. Finally, the
narrator explores how to merge her Indian and American identities as she
attends a Hindu festival in New York City.
The novel is filled with rich cultural details, solid historical
references and fitting literary allusions. Diya's research ended up
taking her on a personal journey. The narrator’s odyssey mirrored that
of the author. Where facts and imagination did not create a coherent
story, Diya employed elements of her own life as a first generation
Indian American immigrant.
