WHEN TARA BANERJEE CARTWRIGHT, THE HEROINE OF THIS FIRST NOVEL, RETURNS TO HER NATIVE CALCUTTA FOR A SUMMER, SHE FINDS SHE MUST NOT ONLY BECOME AN INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN TWO CULTURES BUT ALSO BEAR WITNESS TO THE DOWNFALL OF HER OWN CLASS. TARA IS A GIFTED DAUGHTER OF BENGAL TIGER BANERJEE, A WEALTHY MANUFACTURER, WHO IS DESCENDED FROM A POET AND PHYSICIAN WHO ONCE QUELLED A HINDU-MOSLEM RIOT. TARA HAS BEEN SENT TO VASSAR, WHERE SH HAS MET HER AMERICAN HUSBAND, DAVID CARTWRIGHT. TARA'S TRIP HOME FORCES HER TO COME TO TERMS WITH HER TWO WORLDS -- AND HER GROWING REALIZATION THAT THE BRAHMIN CLASS TO WHICH SHE WAS BORN IS ABOUT TO UNDERGO A SIEGE AND POSSIBLY SUFFER ULTIMATE DEFEAT. OUTSIDE THE BANERJEES' COOL, ELEGANT HOUSE, IN THE BUSTLING ALLEYS OF CALCUTTA, STARVING NAKED CHILDREN EAT OFF THE SIDEWALKS AND SWARMS OF HOODLUMS CALL FOR REVOLUTION. TARA, WHO ADORES HER HANDSOME, IF NAIVE FATHER AND HER RELIGIOUS MOTHER, IS SHOCKED AT HER OWN FEELINGS OF DISTASTE FOR ASPECTS OF HER HERITAGE --...2. THE FUNERAL PYRES, THE TEEMING LIFE OF THE SLUMS, AND THE INTENSITY OF THE MASSES' NEEDS. AS TARA STRIVES TO RECALL HER HUSBAND'S LIBERAL IDEAS, SHE AT THE SAME TIME VIEWS WITH SYMPATHY AND ABSURDITY AND VULNERABILITY OF HER HIGH-CASTE FRIENDS' LIVES. WHILE HER PERSONAL STORY REMAINS THE FOREGROUND OF THE NOVEL IT IS THE FATE OF HER CLASS AND ALL OF INDIA THAT HANGS IN THE BALANCE. THIS WAS MUKHERJEE'S FIRST NOVEL, FIRST PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND WINDUS IN 1973; HOUGHTON MIFFLIN IN 1971.