Valmiki's Daughter — Shani Mootoo

In Valmikiââ,¬â"¢s Daughter, critically acclaimed and best-selling novelist Shani Mootoo returns to the style -- and some of the themes -- she first explored in her breakout book, Cereus Blooms at Night. Mootoo introduces readers to the Krishnus, a well-to-do Trinidadian family firmly ensconced in the strict social hierarchy of the island. In this story of family secrets, patriarch Valmiki conceals a painful fact about his sexual identity while his youngest, the lively and intelligent Viveka, struggles to come to terms with a painful secret connected to her sexual identity. As Valmikiââ,¬â"¢s and Vivekaââ,¬â"¢s secrets threaten to shake the foundations of the family, this beautifully written and hypnotically paced novel explores the complex interaction of race, gender, class, and sexuality in a closed society.