although born and raised in Britain, feels just as much British as Indian, her home since her marriage to Ram over 30 years prior. Sonali, although raised in India, her experiences in the UK while studying and her constant interaction with British people has left her also confused, to whom should she show her allegiance? Women as Objects vs. People: Both Rose and Sonali engage in external and internal conflict with this distinction. Sonali's past experience has consisted mainly of seeing women in submissive roles that deny their true selves, as when her friend Bimmie gets married: "But I was hypnotized by Bimmie's nose ring, the sandalpaste dots on her face, eyes downcast, and those manacled hands resting submissively in her red silk lap. This was never Bimmie." (48) Sonali is thrilled to shuck off the chains she feels bound by as a woman when she goes off to Oxford. Rose also feels this conflict raging around and within her: as Ram's second wife, she will have very few rights when he dies, and may end up like just another piece of furniture for Dev to throw away. She also struggles within herself about whether the role she has chosen fits her, whether she has become submissive to Ram's will and should not have settled for second wife. Wealth’s Ties to Power: This connection seems inevitable, even inseparable, in the novel. The elite have everything: the good Scotch whisky, food on their tables, even a political regime that will turn a blind eye to certain illegal acts. The poor, however, are likely to be arrested and tortured for the barest hint, even a fabricated hint, of committing any crime against the reigning power. The Power of Love: This theme asserts itself most prominently through the character of Rose, who loves her husband Ram so dearly that she is willing to leave behind her home and everything she knows in England to take a position she can hardly even justify to herself, his second wife. She is willing to sacrifice everything to be with him. The young Sonali is not any man's bride, but she finds herself unable to stop caring for Ravi Kachru, her childhood friend and later lover. Main characters Rose – one of the two main protagonists of the story. She was born and raised in a blue-collar family in London. On encountering Ram at a chocolate shop,