Usha Alexander

Only the Eyes are Mine
Frog Books (2005): In early 1940s South India, Sita, a poor, illiterate girl is given as a child bride to a boy with a dark secret that threatens to bring shame upon his family. Finding herself in a marriage without intimacy, she struggles to transcend her circumstances. She learns to read and weave, finding joy and solace at her loom, and release in a brief, forbidden relationship. Yet, alongside her fame as a weaver of tapestries, Sita's anger and frustration grow as she feels thwarted within the confines of her family life. Then a roll of events, in which she participates, ends with grave tragedy and a complete unraveling of her spirit. In middle age, she comes to live in the United States to care for her brother's motherless children who, as they enter adulthood, are fraught with their own conflicts of identity and culture. Nearing death in old age, she asks herself: What has my life been worth? What lessons can be drawn from it? Spanning two generations and two cultures, Only the Eyes Are Mine is a deeply affecting story rich in character and incident. It peers through those veils that separate one from another and blind us to each other's wonder and human plight.; Review at the Sunday Tribune.