Indu Sundaresan

Indu Sundaresan will be the first one to admit it. She is no history buff.

Yes, despite the fact that her three books, including the recently released �The Splendor of Silence� (published by Atria Books), dip into the past. The Seattle-based author�s first two novels �The Twentieth Wife� (2002) and �The Feast of Roses� (2003) were about Empress Nur Jahan, wife of Emperor Jahangir. At one time, Nur Jahan was emperor in all but name of the vast Mughal lands that encompass modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and a massive chunk of Northern and Central India.

Though the books were a work of fiction, they delved into historical facts and details that Sundaresan had researched on accounts given by 17th-century travelers to Emperor Jahangir�s courts and the memoirs of Mughal kings. As for the latest, �The Splendor of Silence,� the author winds the clock forward by three centuries. �I wanted to write about the clash of Indian and American cultures in a time of war,� says Sundaresan. Indeed, it�s a heartrending tale of love and incompatible cultures.

�The Splendor of Silence� begins in 1963 when Olivia, daughter of Captain Samuel Hawthorne and Ayesha Olivia Milana (Mila), receives a mysterious trunk of treasures from India with a letter from an unknown narrator. She learns that during an epic four days in May 1942, when the Japanese invaded Burma, an American soldier on a secret rescue mission and an unconventional young Indian woman betrothed to a prince fall desperately, tragically in love.

Though the love affairs finds expression in the form of their daughter Olivia, the story is about intertwining lives of the characters � Sam and Mila, their love for each other, and why, in a country and a society poised on the brink of independence from British rule, they can never be together.

�I never was a history buff,� confesses Sundaresan, who has settled for a more contemporary story with the third book than her previous work. �But I have been fascinated by people who peopled history. I don�t write about the Indian Diaspora since it places far too much scrutiny on my life. Besides, it doesn�t give me an unprejudiced perspective. But the past allows me to fill in the gaps in existing historical documents.�

Sundaresan is miffed that �nobody writes historical fiction set in India.� But the India-born author quickly points out, �I don�t know if I am carving a necessary niche for myself. I enjoy research, forming and placing characters back in time.�

So would we be safe to assume that her next novel also would be set back in time? You bet. But this time it�s back to the Mughals. �The story will begin about 40 years after Nur Jahan�s death,� she reveals.

Indeed, history repeats itself!