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Overview
An exhilarating debut novel about the first native of the Indian subcontinent to arrive in Colonial America, inspired by a historical figure--"marvelous...readers of Esi Edugyan and Yaa Gyasi will be enthralled" (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Meet Tony: insatiably curious, deeply compassionate, with a unique perspective on every scene he encounters. Kidnapped and transported to the New World after traveling from the British East India Company's outpost on the Coromandel Coast to the teeming streets of London, young Tony finds himself in Jamestown, Virginia, where he and his fellow indentured servants--boys like himself, men from Africa, a mad woman from London--must work the tobacco plantations. Orphaned and afraid, Tony initially longs for home. But as he adjusts to his new environment, finding companionship and even love, he can envision a life for himself after servitude. His dream: to become a medicine man, or a physician's assistant, an expert on roots and herbs, a dispenser of healing compounds. Like the play that captivates him--Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream--Tony's life is rich with oddities and hijinks, humor and tragedy. Set during the early days of English colonization in Jamestown, before servitude calcified into racialized slavery, The East Indian gives authentic voice to an otherwise unknown historic figure and brings the world he would have encountered to vivid life. In this coming-of-age tale, narrated by a most memorable literary rascal, Charry conjures a young character sure to be beloved by readers for years to come.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9781668004524
- ISBN-10: 1668004526
- Publisher: Scribner Book Company
- Publish Date: May 2023
- Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
- Shipping Weight: 0.9 pounds
- Page Count: 272
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Intrigued by both the memorable “Indian boy” of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the historical records of the first-known person from India to arrive in Colonial America, Brinda Charry draws on her academic expertise to craft her profound debut, The East Indian. Far from a light read, this novel is one of heartache and persistence, centering on a boy named Tony who is kidnapped and brought to Virginia as an indentured servant.
When a fortune teller tells Tony that he will “cross all the seas in the world and go to the place where the sun sets,” he has no idea how dramatically this prediction will come to reflect his life. Born on India’s Coromandel Coast, Tony is transported to London and eventually reaches Jamestown, Virginia. The novel is structured like an adventure tale, but Tony’s journey has been forced upon him and is marked by death and rape, described with disturbing vividness. Charry moves between conflicting outlooks: the hope and enjoyment of a boy discovering the world, and the darkly educational reality that surrounds him. In one sense, The East Indian is a quintessential story of finding oneself; in another, it’s a deeply emotional depiction of colonization and the brutality of daily life for people of color in early to mid-1600s Jamestown. The plot is engaging but slow moving, as Charry seems most keen on producing a historically accurate account of the customs and behavioral norms of this period.
Tony’s wide-ranging experiences are at the heart of the novel, but supporting characters also contain nuance and depth. His relationships with friends and foes change and deepen in realistic (and sometimes stomach-churning) ways. Characters are frequently pulled apart, modeling the painful separations of family and friends that were so common for enslaved people and indentured servants, but they continually find pathways back to one another. And while encounters can sometimes feel contrived, the novel delivers genuinely sharp pangs as people move in and out of Tony’s life.
Few fictional narratives explore this era of American history and indentured servitude in the Colonies; Charry addresses this notable absence head-on, and her writing has a sophisticated elegance that aligns perfectly with the gravity of the novel’s contents. The result is a necessary and ultimately triumphant addition to the chronicles of American colonialism.
Intrigued by both the memorable “Indian boy” of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the historical records of the first-known person from India to arrive in Colonial America, Brinda Charry draws on her academic expertise to craft her profound debut, The East Indian. Far from a light read, this novel is one of heartache and persistence, centering on a boy named Tony who is kidnapped and brought to Virginia as an indentured servant.
When a fortune teller tells Tony that he will “cross all the seas in the world and go to the place where the sun sets,” he has no idea how dramatically this prediction will come to reflect his life. Born on India’s Coromandel Coast, Tony is transported to London and eventually reaches Jamestown, Virginia. The novel is structured like an adventure tale, but Tony’s journey has been forced upon him and is marked by death and rape, described with disturbing vividness. Charry moves between conflicting outlooks: the hope and enjoyment of a boy discovering the world, and the darkly educational reality that surrounds him. In one sense, The East Indian is a quintessential story of finding oneself; in another, it’s a deeply emotional depiction of colonization and the brutality of daily life for people of color in early to mid-1600s Jamestown. The plot is engaging but slow moving, as Charry seems most keen on producing a historically accurate account of the customs and behavioral norms of this period.
Tony’s wide-ranging experiences are at the heart of the novel, but supporting characters also contain nuance and depth. His relationships with friends and foes change and deepen in realistic (and sometimes stomach-churning) ways. Characters are frequently pulled apart, modeling the painful separations of family and friends that were so common for enslaved people and indentured servants, but they continually find pathways back to one another. And while encounters can sometimes feel contrived, the novel delivers genuinely sharp pangs as people move in and out of Tony’s life.
Few fictional narratives explore this era of American history and indentured servitude in the Colonies; Charry addresses this notable absence head-on, and her writing has a sophisticated elegance that aligns perfectly with the gravity of the novel’s contents. The result is a necessary and ultimately triumphant addition to the chronicles of American colonialism.