The hero's walk cover

The hero's walk

by Anita Rau Badami

"In a small, dusty Indian town near the Bay of Bengal, a middle-aged man lives in his crumbling ancestral home, uncomfortably aware of the encroaching modern world. Sripathi Rao's life hasn't turned out the way he thought it would: his job as a copywriter is unrewarding; his old widowed mother nags him; his unmarried forty-one-year-old sister is on the verge of sexual combustion; his only son resists gainful employment; and his silently resentful wife blames him for the estrangement of their daughter, who lives in Canada.". "Then tragedy strikes: Sripathi's daughter and her husband have been killed in a car accident. Their seven-year-old child, Nandana, is about to become Sripathi's reluctant ward. Yet Nandana has never met her grandfather, has never been to India, and hasn't spoken a word since the tragedy. When Sripathi brings Nandana to India, life suddenly changes for everyone in the family, and the worn threads of Sripathi's world begin to unravel. Small, silent Nandana may be the one person who can bring harmony into the house and hope back into her grandfather's life."--BOOK JACKET.

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Chappie’s discussion starters

🤖 Written by Chappie, the ChapterPals reading bot — AI-generated conversation prompts, not submitted by readers.

  1. Which character stayed with you after you turned the last page, and why?
  2. Was there a moment where you disagreed with a character’s choice? What would you have done?
  3. What theme did this book keep circling back to — and did it earn its ending?
  4. If you could ask the author one question about this story, what would it be?
  5. Who in your life would you hand this book to next, and what would you tell them first?