November Meetup: The Prayer Room by Shanthi Sekaran

Ugh! Sorry for another schedule change! (Time Tested has scheduled an author event on Wed the 11th) I hope everyone can still make it! We will be discussing The Prayer Room by Shanthi Sekaran. Please arrive between 6:30 and 7 so that you can browse and shop in the store - Time Tested has a lot of great new and used books! - and get situated. The meeting discussion will begin at 7. Reminder: Time Tested is happy to order a book for you if they don't have it on the shelves - and it's easy! Just call or stop by... they put in orders on Tuesdays and it is often available that Thursday. Be sure to let them know you are with the Sacramento Women's Book Club. Synopsis: In 1974, the young and callow Englishman George Armitage goes to Madras in the hopes of returning with at least the beginning of his Ph.D. dissertation. Instead, he comes home with a bride named Viji, an Indian woman he barely knows. This seemingly unlikely pair eventually wind up in Sacramento, where they buy a ranch house and give birth to triplets. In this new American world of shag carpets and pudding pops, Viji seeks consolation in her prayer room, which she visits frequently to gossip, sass, and seek advice from the framed portraits of her dead relatives. It is here where Viji feels most herself and where these deceased family members feel "as real to her as sheÂÂ'd been to them.ÂÂ" The relative calm of VijiÂÂ's California existence is interrupted when GeorgeÂÂ's father shows up on their doorstep, unexpected and unannounced. So when VijiÂÂ's sister sends an out-of-the-blue invitation to visit India, she prepares for her first trip home in nearly eleven years, not knowing for sure if sheÂÂ'll ever return to the States. The Prayer Room re-examines the meaning of family ÂÂ- the people who live down the hall and the people who exist only in our memories. FYI: The author will be at the Borders on Fair Oaks Blvd the following day (Thursday, Nov 12th at 6 pm). She will be talking about her process of becoming a writer, her experience with the book, thoughts on the characters, etc. There will also be a signing and Q&A. Please bring a dish to share with the group (whatever you like!). Thanks!