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by Brinda Charry (Author)
An exhilarating debut historical fiction novel about the first native of the Indian subcontinent to arrive in Colonial America, inspired by a historical figure--"marvelous...readers of Esi Edugyan and Yaa Gyasi will be enthralled" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).Meet Tony: insatiably curious, deeply compassionate, with a unique perspective on every scene he encounters. Kidnapped and transported to the New World after traveling from the British East India Company's outpost on the Coromandel Coast to the teeming streets of London, young Tony finds himself in Jamestown, Virginia, where he and his fellow indentured servants--boys like himself, men from Africa, a mad woman from London--must work the tobacco plantations. Orphaned and afraid, Tony initially longs for home. But as he adjusts to his new environment, finding companionship and even love, he can envision a life for himself after servitude. His dream: to become a medicine man, or a physician's assistant, an expert on roots and herbs, a dispenser of healing compounds.Like the play that captivates him--Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream--Tony's life is rich with oddities and hijinks, humor and tragedy. Set during the early days of English colonization in Jamestown, before servitude calcified into racialized slavery, The East Indian gives authentic voice to an otherwise unknown historic figure and brings the world he would have encountered to vivid life. In this picaresque coming-of-age tale, narrated by a most memorable literary rascal, Charry conjures a young character sure to be beloved by readers for years to come.
Author Biography
Brinda Charry came to the United States from India as a graduate student in 1999 and has been living here since. The East Indian, her first work of fiction published in the United States was awarded the Association of American Historians Prize (formerly the James Fenimore Cooper Prize) for Historical Fiction, and was shortlisted and longlisted for several other awards and recognitions. She is also a specialist in English literature and has published a number of books and articles in that field. She currently lives in Keene, New Hampshire, with her husband and dogs.
