OPENING LINE:

Shamas stands in the open door and watches the earth, the magnet that it is, pulling snowflakes out of the sky towards itself.

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I want to call this a story about star-crossed lovers, a contemporary Romeo and Juliet where the couple dies at the beginning instead of the end. But really the lovers in this story aren’t star-crossed as much as society-crossed. And it’s not just the dead lovers that have this problem either. Throughout the book we encounter couples who for one reason or another are not permitted to love openly or undisturbed. These couples’ stories weave in and out of each other creating layers of desire, fear and loss. But this is not just a love story. It is also an inter-generational family drama and mystery. Set in an English neighborhood of predominantly South Asian immigrants, themes of assimilation, religion versus state and immigrant family and community dynamics are prominent. And since the neighborhood has a lake and hills and woods there is ample imagery from the natural world including flowers, birds, animals and butterflies, butterflies, butterflies. The result is a rich and satisfying novel – a beautiful tapestry of a book.

Check the BPL catalog for this title: Maps for Lost Lovers