Bloomsbury to Publish Love and Marriage in Mumbai by Elizabeth Flock
A moving and powerful portrait of three marriages in present day Mumbai, often revealed in their most private and intimate details. It is through this level of detail that these stories are able to say something about why marriages work or fail in India or any country or cultural context.
About the book: In twenty-first-century India, tradition is colliding with Western culture, a clash that touches the lives of everyday Indians from the wealthiest to the poorest. While ethnicity, class, and religion are influencing the nation’s development, so too are pop culture and technology—an uneasy fusion whose impact is most evident in the institution of marriage. Love and Marriage in Mumbai introduces three couples whose relationships illuminate these sweeping cultural shifts in dramatic ways: Veer and Maya, a forward-thinking professional couple whose union is tested by Maya’s desire for independence; Shahzad and Sabeena, whose desperation for a child becomes entwined with the changing face of Islam; and Ashok and Parvati, whose arranged marriage, made possible by an online matchmaker, blossoms into true love. Elizabeth Flock spent close to a decade getting to know these couples—listening to their stories and living in their homes, where she was privy to marital joy, inevitable frustration, dramatic upheaval, and whispered confessions and secrets. The result is a phenomenal feat of reportage that is both an enthralling portrait of a nation in the midst of transition and an unforgettable look at the universal mysteries of love and marriage that connect us all.
About the author: Elizabeth Flock is a reporter for PBS NewsHour. She began her career at Forbes India Magazine, where she spent two years as a features reporter in Mumbai, and has worked for U.S. News & World Report and the Washington Post. She has also written for major outlets, including the New York Times, the Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Hindustan Times, and the Hindu. She lives in Washington, DC. Love and Marriage in Mumbai is her first book.