THRITY UMBRIGAR'S NEW NOVEL, "HONOR," ALREADY GAINING NATIONAL ATTENTION

 

Former BJ columnist Thrity Umrigar’s new novel, “Honor,” is the Reese Book Club’s January 2002 pick.

It also is 13^th on a list of about 40 picks by Book Reporter.

“Honor” is  the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide. A young wife seeks justice after her brothers kill her husband and maim her because she married outside of their religion.

·         Algonquin Books released it today, January 4, 2022. $26.95 for the hard cover version from Amazon.com.

 

Thrity was born in Mumbai, India (originally Bombay, which is why I called Thrity the babe from Bombay till it became too sexist to continue doing it) and many of her works are the foundation for her personal experience as an Indian (not the one Columbus though he discovered) from a well-off family on Salsette Island, one of the seven islands of millionaires and billionaires who observed the poverty in India before she came to America, became a newspaper columnist and then a nationally known author.

Thrity’s works include “The Space Between Us,” “The Girl They Left Behind,” “The World We Found,” “The Things We Cannot Say,” “Bombay Time” and “The Weight of Heaven.” And, of course, her memoir, “First Darling in the Morning.”

She credits author Toni Morrison for inspiring Thrity's journey into novels.

In her spare time Thrity teaches creative writing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Since 2002. Lucky students.

 

Thrity left India at the age of 21 to attend Ohio State University.

 

 

 

Thrity began her reporting career with The Lorain Journal. Two years later, in 1987, she came to the BJ.

 

 

 

She left the Beacon to attend Harvard on a Nieman Fellowship, wrote “Bombay Time” and her author career took off and left the rest of us behind to stare in awe of her brilliance. By 2014 Thrity already had 7 of her books getting national attention. I can’t keep up with all of them through 2022 but “Honor” is not the last of an already amazing total authored by the incredible India icon!

 

She also is a far cry from the stereotyped astrophysist Raj Koothrappali played by Kunal Nayyar in “The Big Bang Theory,” a great sitcom. Kunal was born in Hounslow, West London to India immigrants who returned to India and settled in New Delhi when Kunal was 4 years old. While Thrity came from India to Ohio State, Kunal came from India to the University of Portland, Oregon where he got his bachelor’s degree in business administration finance then went across America to Philadelphia for his master’s in fine arts.

 

Thrity has sold movie options for 3 of her novels: “The Story Hour,” “The Space Between Us” and the “Space” sequel, “The Secrets Between Us.” Maybe Kunal Nayyar will star in one of Thrity’s novels-turned-into-a-movie with a cameo role for Thrity?

Wouldn’t that be karma? After all, they once lived in India cities only 872 miles away (New Delhi is closer to Pakistan and Nepal while Mumbai aka Bombay is on the island of framed by the Gateway of India stone arch and the Arabian Sea. New Delhi is India’s largest city and Mumbai/Bombay is India’s 2^nd most populated city.

And since Mumbai/Bombay is heart of the Bollywood film industry then Kunal and Thrity could show up for the world premiere of Thrity’s first movie to promote it.