Bindi

A richly imagined debut set against the backdrop of southern India, West London and Hollywood that tells the story of a young Indian boy, suddenly orphaned, and the adults around him, each of whom, in different ways, is also looking for a home in the world.

Despite the sudden death of his mother, several years after losing his father, eight-year old Birendra refuses to believe he is an orphan. He has an aunt in West London, his mother's troubled but winning twin sister, Nayana. But when the letter informing Nayana of her nephew's plight is delivered to the wrong address, numerous lives are forever altered, and Birendra is set adrift.

In the aftermath of a failed attempt to get pregnant, Madeline, a Los Angeles native and interior designer to the stars, flies to India, where she finds herself at an orphanage, face-to-face with Birendra. In a moment of sudden certainty, she decides that adopting this boy, whom she later nicknames "Bindi," is precisely the act that will save them both.

As Nayana falls deeper into a crisis at home and in her marriage, and Madeline begins to come to terms with the full meaning of motherhood-its emotional responsibilities and unforeseen crises-Bindi learns to make himself at home in new surroundings, forging an especially close bond with Madeline's younger brother Eddie, who begins to worry his sister, so successful in many ways, may have met her match in motherhood.

For more than two months, the missing letter stays missing. Will Bindi never reconnect with his one remaining relative, the aunt who seems to have ignored his plea? Or will his adoptive uncle succeed in finding his aunt and unwittingly prompt the two women who love him most in the world to battle for him?

Written in stirring prose and infused with keen emotional insight, Bindi is about our search for family and for home, and an exploration of the ways that loss and longing can be converted into hope, connection, and love.