Following his spectacular debut, The Death of Vishnu, Manil Suri returns with a mesmerizing story of modern India richly layered with themes from Hindu mythology.

The Age of Shiva is at once a powerful story of a country in turmoil and an extraordinary portrait of maternal love. Meera, the narrator, struggles to establish herself against the male-dominated landscape of India after independence. Escaping her overbearing father, she falls into an ill-starred marriage with Dev, whose voice is as intoxicating as his physical demands are oppressive. His brother Arya lusts after her with the same intensity that fuels his right-wing politics, while in her sister-in-law Sandhya's company, Meera discovers a fleeting and heartbreaking eroticism. Only in her son, however, can Meera imagine fulfillment. She engulfs him with a love so deep, so overpowering, that she must fear its consequences.

Meera's compelling odyssey, embodying Shiva both as an erotic force and a symbol of patriarchy, places The Age of Shiva among the most important novels to come out of India in the last twenty years.