Valerie Anand

West of Sunset Valerie Anand

WEST of SUNSETis the compelling saga of three families who come to England to start a new life and their struggle to accept-and be accepted by-an alien culture. Mohan Lal Bhatia and his wife Leela arrive first, Hindus who mean to bring Indian fabrics to the English but soon find themselves enclosed in the growing Indian community in west London. Thev see no need for integration with the English around them, and will not be compelled to face that challenge until the next generation. Kartar Singh Virk and his wife Nita want to participate more fully in English life, while upholding the proud values of their Sikh community back in India. Neither Nita nor Kartar realize what impossible ideals they have created for their daughters-until it is too late. It is Kartar's brother Perry and Mohan Lal's sister Shanti who find the challenges the hardest. To the problems of a mixed Sikh-Hindu marriage, they must add the conflicts between a husband who wishes he were more English and a wife who wants to cling to the old ways-even when these mean submission to her unreasonable mother-in-law. Yet in the end, their family in some ways adapts to England best. As we follow all three families from the drab 1950s through three decades of hope, heartache and passion, we see their successes, their failures, their fears and dreams, their conflicts and compromises. Above all, we see how three generations of women face the challenges of a world where the old ways are no longer enough, and a new way has not yet been found.