Sivakami was married at ten widowed at eighteen and left with twochildren. According to the dictates of her caste her head is shaved and sheputs on widows white... » 

Sivakami was married at ten widowed at eighteen and left with twochildren. According to the dictates of her caste her head is shaved and sheputs on widows whites. From dawn to dusk she is not allowed to contaminateherself with human touch not even to comfort her small children. Sivakamidutifully follows custom except for one defiant act She moves back to herdead husbands house to raise her children. There her servant Muchami acloseted gay man who is bound by a different castes rules becomes her publicface. Their singular relationship holds three generations of the familytogether through the turbulent first half of the twentieth century as Indiaendures great social and political change. But as time passes the familychanges too Sivakamis son will question the strictures of the very beliefsthat his mother has scrupulously upheld. The Toss of a Lemon is heartbreakingand exhilarating profoundly exotic yet utterly recognizable in evoking thetensions that change brings to every family. «