Rage: A Novel

When she first met her mother, Lakshmi was six years old, too old to remember her, too young to forgive her. Ever since she was a little girl, Lakshmi had seen the world in shades of grey. Gifted with beauty and unusual intelligence, she learned early in life to turn on anybody who hurt her, with a cold, unforgiving silence that left no room for reconciliation. At home, she drove her grandmother to fury and despair, and at school she eluded the watchful eyes of the nuns to seek out the dubious company of a young man with whom she could never have anything in common. Thrown out of the family home when she returns with a child whose father she will not name, Lakshmi finds her life taking an unexpected and decisive turn when she meets Mutthu, ageing superstar of the Tamil screen and aspiring political leader. Besotted with the enigmatic young woman, now an accomplished dancer, he makes her his mistress and opens for her the doors to a world so far unknown. In this murky world of film and politics, where greed and corruption abound and deceit is everybody s middle name, Lakshmi basks in the heady fulfilment of power and influence. But it is not long before the sudden reappearance of her darkest secret threatens to spin her life out of control. And as a terrible paranoia and the ultimate instinct for self-preservation take over, Lakshmi begins to strike down in reckless abandon all those who oppose her, without stopping to ask herself the one vital question: Will revenge be enough to heal her soul, or will it lead to her own destruction?