For fans of The Burning Girl by Claire Messud and Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi a stunning
gut-punch of a novel that follows a young Indian American woman who in the wake of tragedy
must navigate her family's expectations as she grapples with a complicated love and loss. On
the cusp of her eighteenth birthday Heera and her best friends siblings Marie and Marco
tease the fun out of life in Raleigh North Carolina with acts of rebellion and delinquency.
They paint the town's water towers with red anarchy symbols and hang out at the local bus
station to pickpocket money for their Great Escape to New York. But no matter how much Heera
defies her strict upbringing she's always avoided any real danger-until one devastating night
changes everything. In its wake Marco reinvents himself as Crash and spends his days
womanizing and burning through a string of jobs. Meanwhile Heera's dream to go to college in
New York is suddenly upended. Over the years Heera's and Crash's paths cross and recross on a
journey of dreams desires jealousies and betrayals. Heart-wrenching darkly funny and
buoyed by gorgeous prose Circa is at once an irresistible love story and a portrait of a young
woman torn between duty and her own survival between obligation and freedom.
