Drawing on his political savvy as a senior United Nations official, Tharoor (India: From Midnight to the Millennium) has written an ingenious story of the investigation into the mysterious death of a young American woman during a Hindu-Muslim riot in a small Indian town, in 1989. When the parents of 24-year-old Priscilla Hart travel to India to find out the reason for their daughter's death, they encounter the slow and circuitous unfolding of their daughter's life in India. Working as a graduate student gathering information on family planning practices, and having fallen in love with a prominent, married law-enforcement official, Priscilla was na‹ve to the cultural and religious obligations that bound the man she loved, with heartbreaking results. Told through journal entries, interviews, newspaper clippings, and memories, the story unravels from a variety of perspectives historical, political, personal, and religious. Recommended for both public and academic libraries.

Michelle Reale, Elkins Park Free Lib., PA (c) Copyright 2010. 
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