Sister India [Hardcover]

Peggy Payne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2001

The exotic and suspenseful story of an eccentric guest-house keeper in Varanasi, India, and the passions evoked by her sacred city along the Ganges.

The Lonely Planet recommends the Saraswati Guest House, and meeting Madame Natraja, "a one-woman blend of East and West," as well worth a side trip. Over the course of a weekend, several guests turn up, shocked to encounter a three-hundred-some-pound, surly white woman in a sari. Then a series of Hindu-Muslim murders leads to a citywide curfew, and they unwittingly become her captives. So begins a period of days blending into nights as Natraja and her Indian cook become entangled in a web of religious violence, and their guests fall under the spell of this ancient kingdom-at once enthralled and repelled by the begging children, the public funeral pyres, the holy men bathing in the Ganges at dawn.

This is a traveler's tale, a story about the strange chemistry that develops from unexpected intimacies on foreign ground. And Peggy Payne's extraordinary talent vividly conjures up the smells of the perfume market, the rhythms of holy men chanting at dawn, the claustrophobic feel of this ancient city's tiny lanes, and the magic of the setting sun over the holy Ganges. For anyone who has harbored a secret desire to go to India and be transformed, Sister India takes you on this journey without ever leaving home.

"This story is an immersion in a particular square mile of Varanasi, an ancient city and pilgrimage site. With the Ganges shoreline of old maharajah's palaces, swarming monkeys, continuously burning funeral pyres, and maze of shadowy lanes, it is the most exotic place I've been in all my travel writing." Sister India, in the words of the author

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When writers set their novels in exotic places, there is always the risk that the background will outshine the characters and plot. Such is the case with travel writer Payne's debut. At first, the novel's setting--the violence-ridden holy city of Varanasi, India--seems well matched by its formidable protagonist--400-pound, middle-aged hostess of the Saraswati Guest House, Natraja, formerly Estelle Wilson of Neavis, N.C. One by one, her guests arrive--shy businesswoman Jill Thornton; environmentalist T.J. Clayton, who's having marital problems back home; and adventurous, elderly widow Marie Jasper, who has come in search of healing and enlightenment--and Natraja goes out of her way to intimidate all of them. Her behavior is so contrary to what one would expect of an innkeeper that one is curious about the tragic past that has made her so bitter. Natraja lets her guard down only with Ramesh, the guest house's elderly cook and her sole friend. When her long-time astrologer predicts that a guest will disrupt the peace of the inn, Natraja has yet another reason to be sour. Tensions rise as outbreaks of violence lead to the imposition of a curfew upon Varanasi. Flashbacks of the ill-fated, adolescent love affair in North Carolina, which was the source of Natraja's unhappiness, intersperse with scenes of the city of Varanasi, which steals and retains the spotlight. Sensuous descriptions of its people, urban wildlife and landmarks--especially its legendary holy river, the Ganges--testify to the author's love for this sacred locale. Her sensitive depiction of the friction between the Hindu and Muslim populations, as experienced by both residents and outsiders, lends the age-old battle an urgency that far outshines the somewhat tedious subplots involving Natraja's lackluster guests. Travelers interested in absorbing India's cultural background and atmospheric ambience will enjoy this novel.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

To immerse oneself in a different culture can seem romantic and mind expanding, not to mention spirit cleansing and nourishing. But immersion also implies the risk of drowning, a point clearly made by journalist-travel writer Payne, who creates a poetic mosaic of sights, smells, sounds, and tastes as she limns a square mile of Varanasi, an ancient Indian city and pilgrimage site. The haze from continuously burning funeral pyres, the pleas of impoverished children, the smells of the perfume market, and the droning rhythms of holy men chanting by the sacred Ganges overtake the senses and both disgust and enthrall the Western travelers staying at the Saraswati Guest House. Situated in the middle of Varanasi's frighteningly tangled maze of claustrophobic lanes barely wide enough for two small wheeled carts, the establishment's manager is the sari-clad Madame Natraja, a reclusive, surly white woman weighing more than 300 pounds, a mysterious and fascinating blend of East and West. When religious murders leads to a curfew, the travelers become captives of Madame, her house, and the violent city where death becomes everyone's familiar. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; 1ST edition (January 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573221767
• ISBN-13: 978-1573221764
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,861,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disturbingly Unsatiating, February 5, 2001

By 

Misha (Staten Island, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sister India (Hardcover)

I found this book to be unsettling, but I could not stop reading. I believe readers who enjoyed "The God of Small Things" will understand what I mean by that, and I also believe they will enjoy this book as much as I did.

The story follows Estelle, a beanpole of a girl who flees North Carolina to find safe haven in Varanasi (Benares), the holiest of India's Hindu cities. Here she becomes Madame Natraja, and manages a small guesthouse called Saraswati. The beanpole of a girl now tips the scales at close to 400 pounds, and the guests of Saraswati are surprised at both her girth and her American-ness.

After an astrologer's prediction of unrest, seeds of religious disparity are sown amongst the Hindus and Muslims, and a Muslim is found murdered at Saraswati. As a result, a strict curfew is announced, and no one is to leave their homes. The guests of Saraswati find themselves virtual prisoners. During their "internment," they come to learn a great deal about each other, as well as India's cutsoms, and the rather mysterious Madame Natraja.

Throughout the book, we are brought back to North Carolina through flashbacks, being fed tiny bread crumbs of hints as to what has made Estelle-Natraja the miserable creature she now is. The truth is bittersweet, indeed.

It wasn't until I was finished with the book that I came to learn that Peggy Payne is also a travel writer; that rings particularly true in this, her first work of fiction. Her eye and ear for the "foreign" as we may know it are painfully true at times, and she unveils a world we can only hope to otherwise dream of. Pick up a copy of this book and curl up with it in front of the fire. It is a delight from the first sentence to the last but, if you're like me, you'll beg for more.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable literary work, January 12, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sister India (Hardcover)

For over two decades, American Madame Natraja managed the small guesthouse Saraswati. When she lived in segregated Nevus, North Carolina in the 1950s, people knew the three hundred pound-plus woman as Estelle. A scandal forced Estelle to leave town and she kept moving until she settled in India's holiest of cities, Varanasi.

Her adopted home city has racial problems too as violence periodically erupts between the Hindus and Muslims. When someone murders a Muslim near Saraswati, the city leaders impose a strict curfew with no one allowed to leave their homes. The guesthouse visitors see a side of India they never expected to observe and learn how precious life truly is. Madame Natraja never veers from her set course until a friend vanishes.

The Lonely Planet tour guidebook lists the main protagonist as a "one woman blend of East and West." That is a very insightful look at Madame Natraja, who understands her western roots even as she embraces aspects of eastern culture. The story line is intriguing and complex, as Peggy Payne has written an intense novel with many layers of interpretation available to the reader.

Harriet Klausner

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The charaters stayed with me, February 6, 2001

By 

K. Unger (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sister India (Hardcover)

Contrary to some reviews, I did not find that the setting out shined the the character development, although their is not much of a plot. The setting and the turmoil in India that are featured in the book are mysterious. So too are the characters. While they are not all fully developed, the fact that they are not, made the book at the more compelling. The reader can almost feel him or herself as one of them. You would never really know a fellow guest in a bed and breakfast all that well during a short stay and that is just what Payne gives us. A partial view into the lives of people who pass like ships in the night. We may want to know more about them- but Payne leaves that up to the readers imagination. I ended the book wanted to know these people better. I have since thought about them. To me, that makes for an memorable reading experience.