And Laughter Fell From the Sky (32 page)

Acknowledgments

T
his novel was inspired by
The House of Mirth
by Edith Wharton. I have always been fascinated and frustrated by the character of Lily Bart in Wharton’s novel. Her situation—the need she felt to fit into her society by marrying the right kind of person—seemed so similar to the situation faced by many Indian-Americans, who feel pressure to enter into an arranged marriage. So, I wanted to explore a Lily-type character who is a modern-day Indian-American woman.

The character of Lawrence Selden in
The
House of Mirth
represents an alternative to Lily’s gilded-cage society. Selden’s world is about art and music and has a bit more freedom in terms of behavior. Yet Selden always seemed too sure of himself, leading me to wonder: did he ever have any doubts about his own choices? I wanted to explore this question by creating a Selden-type character who is seeking his place in the world, who has a vision of what a perfect society would be like, but who is not able to find it.

My friend Sally Kearney was the first person to read a draft of this novel, and her enthusiasm for the story gave me confidence.

My agent, Jenni Ferrari-Adler with Brick House Literary Agents, was able to see the potential of this novel and worked hard to help me realize it. Her guidance and good judgment have been invaluable. Also at Brick House, Sally Wofford-Girand, Melissa Sarver, and Miya Dunets provided valuable feedback and suggestions.

My editor, Maya Ziv, has been tireless with her perceptive questions and suggestions. She has helped me smoothly navigate the journey to a published book. Mary Sasso, Maggie Oberrender, and Jennifer Hart in the HarperCollins marketing department were early, enthusiastic supporters. Emin Mancheril designed an evocative cover, and Shelly Perron did a thorough job copyediting.

I would like to thank my family for their general love and support, as well as for their enthusiasm for this novel and their suggestions: my husband, Mark Winstein; my parents, Vimala and V.V. Sreenivasan; and my brother, Sharad Sreenivasan. My two sons provide lots of fun and help me keep life in perspective.

I have benefited greatly, in my life and my writing, from classes I’ve taken through Landmark Education, and meditation techniques I’ve learned through Swami Nithyananda’s Life Bliss Foundation. I would like to thank both organizations for their contributions to my life.

About the Author

JYOTSNA SREENIVASAN,
the daughter of Indian immigrants, was born and raised in Ohio. She earned an M.A. in English literature from the University of Michigan. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines, and she has received literature grants from the Washington, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. The author of several nonfiction books published by academic presses, and the creator of the online Gender Equality Bookstore, she lives in Moscow, Idaho, with her family. This is her first novel.

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A
LSO BY
J
YOTSNA
S
REENIVASAN

N
ONFICTION

Utopias in American History

Ela Bhatt: Uniting Women in India

Poverty and the Government in America

F
OR
C
HILDREN

Aruna’s Journeys

The Moon Over Crete

Credits

Cover design by Emin Mancheril

Cover photograph © by Brooke Fasani/Plain Picture

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

AND LAUGHTER FELL FROM THE SKY.
Copyright © 2012 by Jyotsna Sreenivasan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

FIRST EDITION

ISBN 978-0-06-210576-9

EPub Edition © JUNE 2012 ISBN: 9780062105776

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