A Melody In The Wilderness

Author: Leena Sharma
Publisher: Lifi Publications, New Delhi
(Pp 314, ISBN 978-93-82536-54-3, Rs 275)

A Melody In The Wilderness is a story of woman of Indian origin and narrative of her endeavor on the soil of America to find a foothold when she was deserted by her much celebrated bio-technologist husband on the ground of intellectual incompatibility. The novel intersperses between India and America and focuses more on America, her social and political environment in the context of historical development. Atypical aspects of American life like consulting psychiatrist or counselors on slightest provocation which may appear normal to an American but found weird by an outsider, the feeling of American superiority vis-a-vis the rest of the world. The American Civil War in the context of Gettysburg battle, the Great Depression in 1920s and the recession in the beginning of the 21st century, social scenario in the late 20th and early 21st century crop up in the novel.

It is a novel envisioned against the backdrop of American social, economic & political life. It exposes many situations, not all of them flattering about life in America. It is the chronicle of a Gayatri deserted by her bio-technologist Indian husband, who had to scout for a foothold on the alien shore and she blossomed. Even the subsequent betrayal by her American lover could not dampen her spirit. It has become an enigmatic story of gradual assimilation of that Indian-origin woman in a different milieu. Lot of issues like clash of lifestyles, cultural disorientation, conflicts of assimilation and tangled ties between generations have been portrayed in the book which will leave the readers to ponder.
– GS Jolly