title: The Splendor of Silence: A Novel
author:  Indu Sundaresan 
description: Sundaresan (<i>A Feast of Roses</i>) returns to her native India for a sprawling story of forbidden love set against the backdrop of WWII and the struggle for Indian independence. U.S. Army Capt. Sam Hawthorne comes to the small kingdom of Rudrakot in the Sukh desert of western India, ostensibly to recover from an injury suffered during a rescue mission behind Japanese lines in Burma. Sam has secrets, however. He's a spy, a member of the fledgling OSS, and he's looking for his brother Mike, who disappeared while serving in a local regiment, the Rudrakot Rifles, where "even his name was false." Complicating matters, Sam has a brief but torrid affair with Mila, the daughter of the kingdom's Indian political agent, who is betrothed to the local prince. As Sam plots to free his brother from a nearby detention center, Mila's brother Ashok becomes involved in a nationalist plot to bomb the car of the local British representative in Rudrakot. The myriad subplots and some overwriting detract, but Sundaresan renders Rudrakot vividly and the sympathetic (if doomed) characters generate enough friction to keep the pot boiling. <i>(Sept.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #
  
  
  Chapter 1 - Silence
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  If you had to choose between a silent place and a lively place, which would
  you prefer?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A silent place when you want to read a book or study?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  A lively place when you want to hang out with friends or eat something?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Depending on your purpose, your preference might change.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  But even if it suits your purpose, a place that is _too_ silent will make you
  uneasy and a place that is _too_ lively will annoy you.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Be it silence or liveliness, it's all a matter of degree.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  That said, of the two, I happen to prefer silence a bit more - most likely
  because I am used to quiet places.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What I am getting at is:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Tsukumodo Antique Shop is as dead silent as ever.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ◆
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  One might compare it to the soft slumber of being in the womb.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  While I was giving myself over to a silence that bundled me up in a blanket of
  cozy warmth, a bubble slowly ros