CBC Radio Studio One Book Club presents Padma Viswanathan - Apr 14 - 7pm

The CBC Radio Studio One Book Club is springing back into action on Monday April 14, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. with the debut novel of one of the 2008 New Faces of Fiction, Padma Viswanathan.

The Toss of a Lemon was inspired by Padma’s family history and stories her Grandmother told her. She brings us deep inside the lives of a Brahmin family as the subcontinent moves through sixty years of intense social and political change. At the novel’s heart is a captivating girl-child married at ten to an astrologer and village healer who is drawn to her despite his horoscope, which foretells an early death… depending on how the stars align when their children are born. All is safe with their daughter’s birth, but their second child, a son, fulfills the prophecy: by eighteen, the child bride is a widow with two young children.

As the children grow, caste identity and customs set mother and son on a collision course, fueled by the modernization of India. The story is heartbreaking and exhilarating, exotic yet utterly recognizable in evoking the tensions that change brings to every family.

Come join us here at the CBC Radio Broadcast Centre for this outstanding debut of Padma Viswanathan at the Studio One Book Club!

Jen Sookfong Lee, author of The End of East and one of the New Faces of Fiction in 2007 will be Sheryl MacKay's co-host for this special evening.

The only way to get in, is to win! Tell us in 200 words or less why you want to be in the studio audience. Go to www.cbc.ca/bc/bookclub or all the details and to email your entry…

Please help spread the word - this novel is fantastic and this is a great opportunity to join in the conversation with Padma, Jen and Sheryl!