Don't Let Him Know

by Sandip Roy

Overview

In a boxy apartment building in an American university town, Romola Mitra, a newly arrived young bride, anxiously awaits her first letter from home in India. When she accidentally opens the wrong letter, it changes her life. Decades later, her son Amit finds that letter and thinks he has discovered his mother's secret. But secrets have their own secrets sometimes, and a way of following their keepers.

Amit does not know that Avinash, his dependable and devoted father, lurks on gay Internet groups at times, unable to set aside his lifelong attraction to men. Avinash has no idea that his dutiful wife had once romanced a dashing Bengali filmstar, whose memory she keeps tucked away in a diary amongst her silk saris.

Growing up in Calcutta, in a house bustling with feisty grandmothers, Amit has been shielded from his parents' secrets. A successful computer engineer, he settles in San Francisco, torn between his new life and his duties towards the one he has left behind.

Moving from adolescent rooftop games to adult encounters in gay bars, from hair salons in Calcutta to McDonald's drive-thrus in California, Don't Let Him Know is an unforgettable story about family, the struggle between having what we want and doing what we feel we must – and the sacrifices we make for those we love. Tender, powerful, and beautifully told, Don't Let Him Know marks the arrival of a brave new voice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620408995
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	01/20/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	605 KB

About the Author

Sandip Roy was born in India, spent many years in San Francisco, and writes for mainstream and ethnic media outlets in both the U.S. and India, including regularly for The Huffington Post . He is the culture editor at Firstpost.com, a contributor to New American Media, and a commentator for Morning Edition on NPR. He has also been a radio host on KALW San Francisco. This is his first book. Roy currently lives in Calcutta.

Editorial Reviews

"Mesmerizing . . . A masterpiece." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"At its best, Don't Let Him Know merges—or, more fundamentally, presents—this clash of sensibilities: Indian and American, traditional and tolerant." —Los Angeles Times  

"Don't Let Him Know is a rich, evocative and brilliantly told tale of family, of loyalties, and of love that must stay secret. Sandip Roy has broken new ground in this tale of the modern Indian family." —Abraham Verghese  

"Sandip Roy’s compelling characters strive to negotiate the distances between continents, generations and sexualities; through a dazzling mosaic of narrative snapshots Roy captures the arcs of entire lifetimes." —Manil Suri 

"In Don't Let Him Know, Sandip Roy finds the hidden pockets within ordinary moments and deftly turns them out to reveal the secrets the Mitras have concealed for years. The result is a moving portrait of the loves and longings of a family split: between India and America, between past and present, and between duty and dreams." —Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You

From the Publisher

At its best, Don't Let Him Know merges--or, more fundamentally, presents--this clash of sensibilities: Indian and American, traditional and tolerant.

Los Angeles Times

Don't Let Him Know is a rich, evocative and brilliantly told tale of family, of loyalties, and of love that must stay secret. Sandip Roy has broken new ground in this tale of the modern Indian family.

Abraham Verghese

Sandip Roy's compelling characters strive to negotiate the distances between continents, generations and sexualities; through a dazzling mosaic of narrative snapshots Roy captures the arcs of entire lifetimes.

Manil Suri

In Don't Let Him Know, Sandip Roy finds the hidden pockets within ordinary moments and deftly turns them out to reveal the secrets the Mitras have concealed for years. The result is a moving portrait of the loves and longings of a family split: between India and America, between past and present, and between duty and dreams.

author of Everything I Never Told You Celeste Ng

04/01/2015
This debut novel follows a closeted husband and father, an unfulfilled mother, and a son who doesn't know his parents as they journey back and forth between India and the United States.

Library Journal

★ 2014-11-06
Roy's mesmerizing debut explores the inner lives of a family of Indian immigrants who can never reveal their secrets.Romola Mitra doesn't tell her new husband, Avinash, what she found in a letter addressed to him. It's too late for that—she's already left Calcutta for the small Illinois town where Avinash is finishing his Ph.D. Romola now bottles a painful secret that seems destined to explode. Instead, it fizzles. Flashbacks to Romola's hopeful youth in India contrast with quiet scenes of domesticity with Avinash and their son, Amit, all three forming a close-knit family without knowing each other at all. Avinash, whose first crush was on his male barber, has resorted to meeting men in anonymous chat rooms and gay clubs, while his wife daydreams about the film star she might have married had her parents approved. Amit grows up and moves to San Francisco without ever knowing the sacrifices his parents made. In refusing to buck the system, they challenge the very notion of freedom. In Calcutta, the Mitra family had servants; in the middle of America, Romola is confined to her box of an apartment with no car and not quite enough English to fully express herself. She and her extended family find freedom in transcendent moments. Forbidden to eat sweets, Amit's great-grandmother hides jars of mango chutney under her mattress to have when she's bedridden. Her recipe—and the tastes and smells it produces—follows Amit all the way to San Francisco years after she dies. Romola's adventures are the most surreal, including a harrowing encounter with a McDonald's cashier, a tussle with a bodyguard at a funeral and a singalong with a drag queen named Bang la Dish. For Avinash, what doesn't happen is almost as important as what does: At times, his indiscretion leads him to heartache or danger, but it doesn't ruin his life. Instead, the truth becomes a canvas for a beautiful still-life portrait—and a masterpiece at that.

Kirkus Reviews