Grief, violence, and history collide to offer a radical look at childhood and migration in suburban New England. “[T]his luminous debut . . . captures precisely the heartache of growing up.” ― Library Journal , Top Spring Indie Fiction Siddharth Arora lives an ordinary life in the New England suburb of South Haven, but his childhood comes to a grinding halt when his mother dies in a car accident. Siddharth soon gravitates toward a group of adolescent bullies, drinking and smoking instead of drawing and swimming. He takes great pains to care for his depressive father, Mohan Lal, an immigrant who finds solace in the hateful Hindu fundamentalism of his homeland and cheers on Indian fanatics who murder innocent Muslims. When a new woman enters their lives, Siddharth and his father have a chance at a fresh start. They form a new family, hoping to leave their pain behind them. South Haven  is no simple coming-of-age tale or hero’s journey, blurring the line between victim and victimizer and asking readers to contend with the lies we tell ourselves as we grieve and survive. Following in the tradition of narratives by Edwidge Danticat and Junot Díaz, Sawhney draws upon the measured lyricism of postcolonial writers like Michael Ondaatje but brings to his subjects distinctly American irreverence and humor. "Sawhney’s debut novel, a coming-of-age tale mixing grief, violence, and extremism, follows the life of Indian-American teen Siddharth Arora as he deals with the death of his mother, political tensions at home, and attempts to fit in amongst the bored and troubled youth of his Connecticut suburb . . . With shifting teen angst colliding with his new, upturned reality, Sid becomes aware of his failings and mistakes as he discovers what it means to be loyal to the ones you love. This is a fantastic debut about growing up as an outsider in a divisive environment." ― Publishers Weekly "A vivid portrait of second-generation immigrants living in suburban New England . . . Sawhney is pitch-perfect when describing the uneasy relationship between adolescents and their parents . . . There is much emotional truth in the author’s sensitive portrayal of the despair and rage that can simmer away throughout adolescence . . . Hirsh Sawhney’s quietly devastating conclusion is both unexpected and deeply moving." ― Times Literary Supplement "A raw portrait of a motherless family . . . poetic . . . [Sawhney’s] characters are distinctive: They open up differently, more ominously, than American fiction’s best-known South Asians of the Northeast ― Jhumpa Lahiri’s . . . [and] exhibit an outsider-ness without glamour." ― Village Voice "Sawhney weaves together his own plot, with heartbreaking difficulties about confronting the complexity of identities, with nationally and locally important issues like Islamophobia, all painted on a southern Connecticut backdrop." ― Connecticut Magazine "Sawhney manage[s] to convincingly portray the pain and stress of growing up in a fractured society." ― The Telegraph India HIRSH SAWHNEY ’s writing has appeared in the  New York Times Book Review , the  Guardian , the  Times Literary Supplement, the  Financial Times ,  Outlook , and numerous other periodicals. He is the editor of  Delhi Noir , a critically acclaimed anthology of original fiction, and is on the advisory board of  Wasafiri , a London-based journal of international literature. He lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and teaches at Wesleyan University.  South Haven  is his debut novel. Visit his website at www.hirshsawhney.com. South Haven A Novel By Hirsh Sawhney Akashic Books Copyright © 2016 Hirsh Sawhney All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-61775-397-8 PROLOGUE Siddharth Arora has no way of knowing it, but today is the last day he will ever see his mother. He is on the armchair in the family room, straining his ears so he can hear the television. His father and Barry Uncle have been making a racket all morning, and Siddharth has been trying to watch a game show. His mother thinks he is too young to watch game shows. Thinks he should spend time on better things. Going to friends' houses, or having them over. He enjoys these things. But would trade them all in for the television. He could sit in front of the television every waking hour of the day. He wouldn't mind sleeping in front of it. His father hates the television. Thinks it is evil. A cancer that will ruin the greatest civilization on earth. His father thinks he should spend more time reading. Arjun reads a lot. Arjun studies and gets good grades. In two years, Arjun will be away at college. The thought of his impending departure sometimes keeps Siddharth awake at night. Siddharth clicks his tongue. Says, You wanna keep it down? Barry Uncle is perched on a ladder behind one of the sofas. White leather sofas that Siddharth's mother has recently pur- chased against his father's wishes. Barry Uncle says, in his raspy voice, Hah, boy? Speak up. Siddharth scowls.