The Grammarian: A Novel

A man and woman from different backgrounds cross paths with fateful consequences in this “stunning debut novel, set in India as the 20th century dawns” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
 
In the fall of 1911, Alexandre Lautens, an ambitious French philologist, sweeps into a remote part of India to study the Telugu language. Hosted by a local wealthy landowner and his family, Lautens arrives at a moment of change: Mohini, the younger and strikingly beautiful daughter, is about to marry—an act which will inevitably condemn her older sister, Anjali, to spinsterhood.
 
Intellectually curious by nature, Anjali is beguiled by Lautens, and as they find an intimacy within language, an unexpected relationship develops. After Anjali confesses that her disfigurement—a lasting injury from polio—has kept her from swimming since her childhood, Lautens surprises her with a trip to the beach. Regardless of what might have happened between them, her father is outraged when he hears word of their outing. Thinking his daughter a tramp and Lautens a predator, he swiftly kicks both of them out, and they are left to fend for themselves. They will set out on separate and very different paths—but continue to hold a place in each other’s hearts and worlds.
 
“Rich descriptions . . . literary fiction lovers will revel in the descriptive scenes that contain underlying messages of love and loyalty.” —Library Journal