In that deep and distant time there lived in my house my permanently stricken mother, my mother's vivacious, laughing sister, and my absent father.. Our house was like a well, holding his absence and her silence, and within those waters, my story began.
Appachana succeeds in drawing us deep into this complex vision of shattered happiness and withered dreams. At the same time she convincingly portrays the strains on women in modern India-confined by their extended families, diminished and betrayed by the men they look to for security.