Golden Son

An instant bestseller in Canada, The Golden Son is a “sensitive and intelligent work” with an unforgettable story of family, responsibility, love, honour and tradition, in which two childhood friends must balance the expectations of their culture and their families with the desires of their own hearts (National Post). Anil is the cherished eldest son of a large family in rural India, expected to inherit the role of leader of his clan and arbiter of its disputes, dispensing wisdom and good advice. Leena is his closest companion, a fiercely brave girl who loves nothing more than the wild terrain they inhabit and her close-knit family. As childhood friends, they are inseparable—but as adulthood approaches, they grow apart. Anil is the first in his family to leave India, the first to attend college, the first to become a doctor. Half a world away in Dallas, Texas, he is caught up in his new life, experiencing all the freedoms and temptations of American culture. In India, Leena dreams of a strong, true love like the one shared by her parents and leaves her beloved home to join her new husband’s family in a distant village. Then things start to go wrong: Anil makes a medical mistake with tragic results, his first love begins to fray and a devastating event makes him question his worth as a doctor and as a friend. On a visit home, he rekindles his friendship with the woman who seems to understand him better than anyone else. But their relationship is complicated by a fateful decision made years earlier. As the two old friends discover each other again, they must also weigh the choice between responsibility and freedom, and between loyalty and love.