Neerja Raman

Moments in Transition Neerja Raman

Raman reveals the struggle involved in changing nations and keeping heart; she shows us that no culture is isolated from the universal truths of love and loss.-Sylvia E. Halloran, editor, poet, and winner of Barnes and Noble's Independent Thinking Essay Contest



In this heartfelt collection of twenty-two stories, a mother and daughter slowly begin to understand their different perspectives on life, love, and happiness.



Maya has sacrificed much happiness for her daughter, Jeena. She left India to immigrate to America with her diplomat husband and tried to embrace her new country with open arms. And when tragedy strikes, she strives to make a stable life for her daughter.



Jeena, who straddles the divide of cultural displacement, struggles to reconcile the more common American displays of affection with her traditional mother's seemingly strict and cold nature. Maybe, Jeena stubbornly thinks, if her mother had kissed her father more, he wouldn't have left for dangerous places. But Jeena eventually begins to recognize the small, subtle ways her mother made her affection known.



Journey forward and back through the years as Maya and Jeena navigate love, loss, and resolution. It will take two open hearts for these women to close the gap wrought by heritage.