Rising Sons: A Novel by Kavery Nambisan [Paperback]

In pre-independent India, in the small village of Kesarugattu somewhere in Karnataka, Devaraya, a Brahmin, goes about further ossifying his status. This little hamlet, like every other, follows the said and unsaid rules of caste and religion. Inter-caste marriages are frowned upon. Brahmin and other wealthy upper caste men set the rules. The Ai tribes live far away from the village, in the forest. As societal divisions and unlikely friendships play out in the everyday life of the village, a secret from Devaraya’s past comes to haunt him and his family. The repercussions are huge for both Devaraya, his wife Gowru and his two sons Nanju and Anna.

Even as battle lines are drawn in the village and undeclared allies offer support, this fresh trouble claims one of his two sons. That's not all - meanwhile, the Independence movement that infects the little hamlet sweeps away his other son in its fever. What is to become of the dreams Devaraya had for his sons?

Rising Sons, a novel in four parts, tells the delicate story of the relationship between fathers and sons, between husbands and wives, between family and society; of the fate of a small village that is tied to the making of a great nation; of the hope and promise of the young against the disappointments of the past; of the hows and whys of political life.