Embedded Files
by Priya Malhotra
by Priya Malhotra
When fifty-something Naina Mehta¹s husband dies of a heart attack, she transforms herself from a suburban wife into a bold woman thirsty for new experiences. A far cry from the classic image of the aging Indian widow who dresses in subdued colors and focuses solely on her children and God.
Naina moves to New York City, takes up a low-paying job in a contemporary art gallery, and becomes besotted by Jai, her daughter's boyfriend. But that's only the beginning of her journey into this new world that allows her to explore the possibilities of being who she wants to be.
As Naina becomes more empowered, she dips her toes into the world of dating for the first time in her life. Maybe the possibility of love still exists for a woman of her age. But what happens if the man in question is Muslim and stirs generational wounds and the wrath of her conservative son?
Woman of an Uncertain Age explores the rocky, uncertain terrain of female midlife during a time when the parameters and ideas of midlife are being challenged. What does it mean to be a fifty-plus woman with grown children in such an environment? Especially for Naina, who comes from a culture where life is expected to follow a strict traditional course.
"Fans of Marian Keyes, Kelly Harms, and Amy Sue Nathan will appreciate how Malhotra contrasts the corrosive qualities of shame with the power of forgiveness and acceptance." — Booklist
"In her debut novel, India-born, New York—based journalist Malhotra vividly portrays aspects of Indian immigrant life in the United States." — Library Journal
"A well crafted exploration of the complexities that come with aging, immigration, and unexpected love." — Review, Seema
“The narrative voice of Woman of an Uncertain Age is immediately engaging, playful and intelligent, with a touch of irony . . . This is one of the most entertaining, bold and insightful explorations of women at middle age that I have read.” — Cassandra Garbus
Details
Details
Bink Books
344 pp. ● 6x9
$23.95 (pb) ● $9.99 (eb)
ISBN 978-1-949290-90-5 (pb)
FICTION / Asian American
FICTION / Family Life / General
Publication date: September 20, 2022
"Woman of an Uncertain Age is a resounding 'Yes!' to everything that can go right, all that's worth saving and whether life still wants to surprise us. In the intelligent and sensuous Naina, Priya Malhotra has given us the propelling verve of a classic Terry McMillan character with the multicultural tack we love Bharati Mukherjee's Indian American women for. An American story, a New York story, a grown woman story . . . Here is a novel to represent these high times of new life and reopenings." -- Kalisha Buckhanon, author of Speaking of Summer
"A poignant and yet witty account of a woman in her fifties grappling with her past, her at times inappropriate desires, and her life as a single widow. Woman of an Uncertain Age is a delightful and surprising read." -- Helen Benedict, author of The Good Deed and Wolf Season
"In Woman of An Uncertain Age, Priya Malhotra has deftly woven a complex novel that will draw in readers through her beautiful prose, vivid imagery, and memorable characters. I found myself mesmerized by every step in the plot while identifying with every character’s trait, choices, and whims. Even the ones I found challenging, they challenged me in a way that made me a better reader, thinker, and ultimately, human." — Reema Zaman, author of I Am Yours and Paramita: A Dystopian Matriarchy
“With a poet’s sense of lyricism, a painter’s sense of color, and a novelist’s sense of story, Priya Malhotra pushes her language to ever greater heights, teetering at the edge, but always pulling back in time. To me, A Woman of an Uncertain Age is about loneliness and longing, about acceptance and understanding, about the strangeness of existence, especially for Naina, who grew up in India but now lives in New York, all caught in an intoxicating range of metaphors, yet told with an honesty that cuts to the bone.” — Birgitta Hjalmarson, author of Fylgia and Artful Players: Artistic Life in Early San Francisco
"Priya Malhotra writes with style and verve. Woman of an Uncertain Age is acutely observed and ably brings to the fore the particular anxieties and challenges of ageing, immigration and finding love in the most unexpected of circumstances." — Pallavi Aiyar, author of Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China and Orienting: An Indian in Japan
"Priya Malhotra: Feature Author" — Coffee and Conversations
"Recommended Reads" — Women Writers, Women['s] Books
"Holiday Gift Guide: 11 Things Gen-xers Wouldn't Mind Unwrapping" — TueNight
"My Favorite 2021 Books" — regression
"Alternative Book Review: Letter To A Protagonist" — Barbara Bos, Women Writers, Women['s] Books
"The Unexpected Disclosure that Sparked Woman of an Uncertain Age" — Women Writers, Women['s] Books
"The Most Anticipated Books Of September 2022" — Bustle
Priya Malhotra, a writer and journalist based in New York City for over 15 years, has contributed to numerous publications including Newsday, Time Out New York, The Times of India, The Japan Times, Asian Art News, Cosmopolitan and News India Times. For several years, she was a staff writer for financial publications.
Extroverted and extremely curious, Priya has a wide range of interests including psychology, gender, education, literature, world cultures and art. She has written about contemporary art for Hong Kong-based Asian Art News magazine for more than a decade and prior to motherhood was the publication’s New York contributing editor. Currently, she writes fiction and takes care of her two young daughters and squeezes in time for non-fiction when time allows.
She has Master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City and a Bachelor’ s degree in English literature from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
Fiction has always been her first love, but she started her career in journalism to gain exposure to a wide variety of experiences, places and people, believing it would inform and enrich her fiction. She’s fascinated by the inner lives of people, particularly women, and if she was ever to discover a way, you may see her trying to climb into people’s minds.
While doing her graduate degree at Columbia, Priya was intrigued to find some American women converting to Islam because the religion appealed to them from a gender perspective. She wrote her Master’s thesis on the subject. A groundbreaking piece, it was published in Newsday. Soon after, leading reference book publisher H.W. Wilson included the work in a compilation of important articles on religion in politics and society from esteemed national publications such as The New York Times and Atlantic Monthly.
Priya grew up in New Delhi, India where she was raised mostly secular, loosely Hindu, and attended Catholic School. Passionate about languages since childhood, she speaks English, Hindi, and Urdu along with a smattering of Punjabi, and Spanish. She remains connected to India where she returns to for long periods every year. Afflicted by chronic wanderlust, she traveled to several countries before having kids. A global citizen at heart, she dreams of living in different countries.
Page updated
Report abuse