The Scent of Pepper

Author: Kavery Nambisan
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 1996
Language: English
Pages: 277
ISBN/UPC (if available): N/A

Description

Kavery's elegiac novel peels away the layers of mystery surrounding a fierce and independent people while simultaneously portraying a unique and compelling family who will linger on in the minds of every reader of the book.

Deep in the remote province of Kodagu in South India, the mighty Kaleyandas, a family born of warriors and owners of vast estates, are the envy of the local feudal gentry. The Rao Bhadur presides over an extended family that includes his elder son, Baliyanna, a talented vet who falls secretly in love with the wife of a British planter, who despises natives; Nanji, Baliyanna's wife, a resolute and ingenious woman, indispensable to the family she has married into, and Subbiah, her son, born lame and magically cured.

Trouble began to envelop the family ; the new British rulers are no longer benevolent; internal dissent within the family begins to escalate and even the iron-willed Rao Bhadur falls prey to the acute mental depression, a disease endemic to the area. Now it is upto Subbaiah and his strong-willed daughter to direct the fortunes of the family ...

Kaveri's fiction has a breeziness and charm rarely found in books written in English by Indians - BUSINESS INDIA