Purple Lotus: A Novel

Veena Rao

Sep 2020 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

2021 WINNER, AMERICAN FICTION AWARD
A 2021 Georgia Author of the Year Award Finalist
Award-Winning Finalist, Women's Fiction, 2021 International Book Awards
Award-Winning Finalist, Multicultural Fiction, 2021 International Book Awards

Featured in Travel + Leisure’s "20 Most-anticipated Books for Fall”
“20 Classic and New Books About Feminism That Will Get You Thinking and Talking”
―Parade

“A moving and polished novel that highlights Rao’s literary promise.”
―Kirkus Reviews

“Rao’s resonant novel is an ode to the value of personal dignity and the importance of being true to oneself that carries on long after the final chapter.”
―Newsweek magazine

“Purple Lotus is the Atlanta novel you need to be reading this year… Tara is probably one of the strongest characters you’ll find in Southern fiction.”
—ArtsATL

“I’d recommend it to people who are fans of the expansive storytelling of Tayari Jones... and then to anyone who wants to add to their bookshelf of growing Atlanta literature.”
—PANK Magazine”
”
“The dazzling tale of an Indian-American woman finding her way through the labyrinth of tradition to self-awareness in the modern world. The writer employs an energetic prose style interspersed with melodic passages to make the writing itself a hybrid. Set in particular times and places, Purple Lotus nonetheless appeals to readers everywhere, especially women, to claim the full measure of their human rights. A vivid and resplendent novel for our time.”
―Elaine Neil Orr, critically acclaimed author of Swimming Between Worlds

Tara moves to the American South three years after her arranged marriage to tech executive Sanjay. Ignored and lonely, Tara finds herself regressing back to childhood memories that have scarred her for life. When she was eight, her parents had left her behind with her aging grandparents and a schizophrenic uncle in Mangalore, while taking her baby brother with them to make a new life for the family in Dubai.

Tara’s memories of abandonment and isolation mirror her present life of loneliness and escalating abuse at the hands of her husband. She accepts the help of kind-hearted American strangers to fight Sanjay, only to be pressured by her patriarchal family to make peace with her circumstances. Then, in a moment of truth, she discovers the importance of self-worth—a revelation that gives her the courage to break free, gently rebuild her life, and even risk being shunned by her community when she marries her childhood love, Cyrus Saldanha.

Life with Cyrus is beautiful, until old fears come knocking. Ultimately, Tara must face these fears to save her relationship with Cyrus—and to confront the victim-shaming society she was raised within.

Intimate and deeply moving, Purple Lotus is the story of one woman’s ascension from the dark depths of desolation toward the light of freedom.

Ratings and reviews

Hi Veena Rao, read the book purple Lotus and finished within a day It was hard to put the book down Great story telling. The importance of the subject matter is very relevant, was and will be Very good ending. U also brought out beautifully the insecurity people might feel even in great relationships. U invested lot of time and energy - ten years.. vow, I can see the result This could be a Bollywood blockbuster or for that matter on any woods

This is a beautifully written novel that story that straddles two worlds India and the southern United States offering a unique perspective of life as an Indian immigrant woman. Purple Lotus by Veena Rao is the story of Tara who immigrates from India to Atlanta, Georgia to be with her husband Sanjay. Theirs is a horribly ill-suited arranged marriage. Tara finds herself lost in a new country with an abusive husband and an unfortunate lack of self-confidence. Eventually, she makes friends in her new community giving her the courage to leave her husband and make her own life in her new country. Some might argue that Purple Lotus is more of an immigrant story than a southern story, but I’d point out that Rao beautifully captures the experience of someone fresh to the South, that the south is more than its traditions, that the South with its world-renown hospitality has room for all. Tara’s story of empowerment will steal your heart. Don’t miss it.

About the author

Veena Rao was born and raised in India but calls Atlanta home. A journalist by profession, she is the founding editor and publisher of NRI Pulse, a popular Indian-American newspaper. Although her day job involves news reports, interviews, and meeting press deadlines, she devotes her spare time to creative writing and long walks in the woods. Purple Lotus, her debut novel, is the winner of the She Writes Press and SparkPress Toward Equality in Publishing (STEP) contest.