It was a tense autumn the year Mayura came away from her husband saying she was never ever returning to that uncouth, lustful monster. Everyone in the family was affected by her presence to a greater extent than they had thought likely. A sense of collective guilt emasculated the men even while they lectured her on the moral duty of returning to her wedded husband. A sense of outrage mingled inexplicably with a sense of secret sorrow alienated women from themselves and from each other. No one knew what to make of her or of themselves. And meanwhile, she moved as though nothing, nobody, could touch her. And those who thought they had, retreated, scorched. Using a deceptively simple and intimate style, Parameswaran explores the subtleties of love, marriage, sex, and family life in a changing Indian environment.
What I found most enjoyable about this novel is that it steers clear of stereotypes about Indian immigrant families. The Bhaves and the Moghes are refreshingly different from some families that inhabit the world of diasporic fiction. There are no daughters being threatened with arranged marriages, no authoritarian parents, and no weepy sentimentality about the land left behind."-(Nalini Iyer, on SAWNET Book Pages) "This is the story of two families that not only dive deep into dangerous waters, but surface and live to tell the tale."-(Michelle Reale in Rain Taxi Online) "A hymn to the joys and sorrows of family, in the best, most inclusive sense of the word." Andreas Schroeder
Uma Parameswaran's earlier works have earned her praise and awards. What was Always Hers won the Jubilee Award for the best collection of short stories published in 1999. Of the title story, that appeared earlier as The Sweet Smell of Mother's Milk-Wet Bodice, reviewers had this to say: "A deftly wrought novella possessing the quiet elegance born of outrage."(The Globe and Mail) "Uma Parameswaran has written with the insight and lyricism of the fine poet she is." June Callwood "It is activist literature, woman-empowering fiction, and it has a political edge." (Herizons) Of her novel, Mangoes on the Maple Tree, Andreas Schroeder has said, "A hymn to the joys and sorrows of family, in the best, most inclusive sense of the word.
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