PURSUIT OF FREEDOM

About the Book

The book depicts the struggles of 12 year old Maya who rebels against her family and social norms in pursuit of freedom. She refuses an arranged marriage and escapes home to get an education in a catholic boarding school. Eventually she lands in America of the 1960s and is embroiled in emotional and spiritual struggles as she realizes the wider ramifications of freedom. She returns on the brink of globalization and finds the traditional society at home withering and heading towards dissolution. India 1940s and radical American campus 1960s! American Dream of an Indian girl that ends with an unexpected twist! “ ….a richly imagined and deeply felt testimony to the timeless human impulse that informs all our lives….” Dr. Robert Hamburger Professor of English, New Jersey City University

About the Author

An M.A. from Bombay University and a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, Dr Laxmi Parasuram’s experience of the academic world spans 25 years as a Professor of English in India. She is the recipient of both British and American awards, including the Visit award from the  British Council  and Fulbright post-doctoral  Fellowships from the U.S. She is the past President of the Indian Association for American Studies and has contributed several papers on American Literature studies in India. She has also edited a volume entitled American Literature and Culture and written a critical book on Virginia Woolf called Virginia Woolf: the Emerging Reality. As an Inner Wheel member of the Rotary Club of South West Calcutta, she has written its history. Her first novel published in 2003 is Entrapped in Academia. She is currently a member of the Rotary Club Calcutta South City Towers. An active member of the Soroptimist  International, she has served in local and national committees  of this global association for  professional women.