A bold inventive and fiercely original debut novel that begins with an uncle dead and his
tween niece’s private confession to the reader—she and her sister killed him and they blame
the British. "I have been waiting for Nina McConigley's debut novel for years and it's even
better than I could have imagined." —Celeste Ng “Spirited and witty stylish and
audacious...Its avid curiosity about the world its alertness to history and its enormously
fun storytelling—with a twist at the end—held me in their spell.” —Megha Majumdar Summer
1986 . The Creel sisters Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna welcome their aunt uncle and young
cousin—newly arrived from India—into their house in rural Wyoming where they’ll all live
together. Because this is what families do. That is until the sisters decide that it’s time
for their uncle to die. According to Georgie the British are to blame. And to understand why
you need to hear her story. She details the violence hiding in their house and history her
once-unshakeable bond with Agatha Krishna and her understanding of herself as an
Indian-American in the heart of the West. Her account is at every turn cheeky unflinching
and infectiously inflected with the trappings of teendom including the magazine quizzes that
help her make sense of her life. At its heart the tale she weaves is: a) a vivid
portrait of an extended family b) a moving story of sisterhood c) a playful ode
to the 80s d) a murder mystery (of sorts) e) an unexpected and unwaveringly
powerful meditation on history and language trauma and healing and the meaning of
independence Or maybe it’s really: f) all of the above.
