Transmission

An impressive first novel from filmmaker Srivastava, this is a funny, bittersweet tale of media betrayal, female bonding, sex and HIV in post-Thatcher England. Angie, the narrator and heroine, is a promising freelance TV researcher, an Anglo-Indian daughter of intelligent but old-fashioned parents. While bar-hopping with old college friends, she stumbles on a raffishly appealing working-class type, Lol, who intrigues her both as a man and as a potential story source; he is HIV-positive and so is his estranged wife, who sounds like the perfect subject for the documentary Angie is starting work on. Angie ends up in a short-lived affair with Lol, and his wife, Kathi, is wounded by the manipulations of the filmmakers. Angie is left with a difficult choice, but comes through like a trouper, destroying her career but showing new maturity. Angie is a winning creation, believable in her attempt to balance her career needs and moral concerns, her love for Lol and her attachment to family and friends. Although the villain of the piece, an American TV producer, is two-dimensional, most of Srivastava's characters are emotionally and morally complex, with Angie's parents and uncle redeeming themselves in particularly satisfying fashion. (Apr.)