The Charterhouse of Padma - by Padma Viswanathan (Hardcover)

About the Book

"A novel told in two parts, each half narrated by a South Asian woman, "P," living in Fayetteville, Arkansas who is writing an essay about her favorite color: chartreuse. The Charterhouse of Padma is a novel told in two parts: in each half, a South Asian woman, "P," living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is writing an essay about her favorite color: chartreuse. The first P is a translator and professor, married to Mac, a professional feminist too slick for his own good. As lockdown commences, she discovers a secret about him, one that upends her understanding of their relationship and their marriage. In the gulf of their widening estrangement, P imagines a double, someone very like herself but less lonely, more independent, more angry, more maternal, more fun... . Now we meet another "P": a novelist, married to a successful poet and translator called Mat. It's her second marriage-the first was upended when she discovered a bad secret about her then-husband. This P is abraded, exhausted and enraged: by racial microaggressions, by structural obstacles, by the ways her husband's reaction to her own overdue career success is challenging their marriage. Granted stillness by the pandemic, though, P rediscovers joy and hope in her relationship. Eventually, each woman is led by her essay to the Chartreuse Mountains, the region made famous by the monks and their secret elixir, as the two "P"s trajectories converge"--

Book Synopsis

Two South Asian professors, both named P, unearth shocking secrets about the men they love and question the lives they chose.

P is writing obsessively about her favorite color: chartreuse. She's a translator and professor, married to Mac, a professional feminist too slick for his own good. As the COVID lockdown commences, she discovers a secret about him, one that upends her understanding of their relationship and their marriage. In the gulf of their widening estrangement, P imagines a double, someone very like herself but less lonely, more independent, more angry, more maternal, more fun...

Now we meet another "P" a novelist, also writing about chartreuse. She's married to a successful poet and translator called Mat. It's her second marriage--the first fell apart when she discovered a secret about her then-husband. This P is abraded, exhausted, and enraged: by racial microaggressions, by structural obstacles, by the ways her husband's reaction to her own overdue career success is challenging their marriage. Granted stillness by the pandemic, though, this P rediscovers joy and hope in her relationship.

Eventually, each woman is led by her essay to the Chartreuse Mountains, the region made famous by the monks and their secret elixir.

The Charterhouse of Padma is full of delicious secrets, revelations, and sharply observed truths about what is to be brown, a woman, a wife, a mother, and an artist. Exhilarating, electrifying, charged with incisive intellect and humor, this is a novel for anyone who ever wondered how, and if, they ever chose the thing they love.

Review Quotes

Praise for Padma Viswanathan

The Toss of a Lemon

"This soaring new novel, inspired by the author's family history, will draw comparisons to The God of Small Things, but Viswanathan has a voice and a vision all her own."

--Chatelaine

"Altogether a pleasure."

--Kirkus (starred review)

"She makes a vanished world feel completely authentic. Superbly done."

--Booklist

"A brilliant tour de force."

--India Today

"Padma Viswanathan has real talent."

--The New York Times

"Dazzling... [A]n important work of historical fiction. Highly recommended."

--Library Journal (starred review)

"Viswanathan's book, like Rushdie's work, aims for epic status. But it actually achieves something that is in many ways more nuanced than the broad brushstrokes of an epic: a meditation on fate's workings in a family dominated by the quiet rule of one woman -- and the struggle of her son against the strictures of her belief."

--Washington Post

The Ever After of Ashwin Rao

"Viswanathan has written an important book - one that deserves to to find international recognition."

--J.C. Sutcliffe, The Globe and Mail

"Through characters hewn with great empathy and grace, writing whose brilliance illuminates every page, and a story that constantly compels and surprises, Padma Viswanathan explores hugely ambitious questions of loss, identity and faith."

--Manil Suri, author of The Death of Vishnu and The City of Devi

"It's powerful work, and the book as a whole imbeds the reader in the glacial pace of both grief and justice."

--Kirkus