Missy
India

Missy

by Raghav Rao

Immigration Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Family Saga 2024

Summary

Madras, India, 1974. Seventeen-year-old Savi has grown up in St Ursula’s convent, where orphaned girls are expected to become nuns or domestic servants. Intelligent and gifted with languages, she dreams of a different future. When she becomes a governess for the wealthy Nandiyar family, she encounters a world of privilege and possibility—and falls in love with Ananda, a young apprentice sculptor. But a night of horrific violence forces them to flee India and begin new lives under different identities.

Four decades later, Savi has reinvented herself as Missy, a successful driving school owner in Chicago and a respected member of the South Asian community. A devoted mother to her two daughters, Mansi and Shilpa, she appears to have achieved the American dream. However, when a charming young doctor named Varun enters their lives, secrets from her past threaten to unravel everything she has built. Spanning continents and generations, Missy explores migration, reinvention, family loyalty, and the lasting consequences of the choices people make to survive.

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Country
India
Asia
About the author
Raghav Rao
Raghav Rao

Raghav Rao is an Indian-born novelist who grew up between Mumbai, London, Los Angeles, and southern India. His multicultural upbringing informs his interest in identity, migration, and the complex relationships between people and the places they call home. Rao studied at the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He teaches at the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and writes a newsletter exploring information saturation. He is also involved in Chicago’s literary community and is a member of organizations including Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. Missy (2024) is his debut novel. Drawing on the experiences of Indian immigrants in America, Rao examines the pursuit of reinvention and the tension between leaving the past behind and remaining connected to one’s origins. Through Missy’s journey from Madras to Chicago, he explores family secrets, class divisions, cultural assimilation, and the complicated meaning of freedom.

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Details
Published
2024
Author
Raghav Rao