The Museum of Failures

Umrigar (Honor) returns with another rich and emotionally gripping story about familial love and the destructive power of secrets. Remy Wadia has returned from the U.S. to his hometown of Bombay for the first time since his father’s death three years earlier. Having arrived to adopt a baby from a pregnant teenager, Remy is shocked to learn that the mother-to-be is having second thoughts about giving up the child. Making matters worse, his elderly mother’s health has suddenly declined. Remy, who has a turbulent relationship with her, is guilt-ridden for having left India to settle with his American wife in Ohio. Umrigar deftly explores the complexity of caring for an aging parent as Remy stretches himself thin trying to nurse his mother back to health. Meanwhile, he’s preoccupied by grief over his beloved father. After his mother begins to recover and comes back home from the hospital, Remy tries to forgive her for verbally abusing him as a child, until one morning when a photograph falls out of his mother’s prayer book, leading to a series of revelations about Remy’s parents that change his perceptions of both of them. The story of family secrets takes on emotional resonance as Remy contends with his own anxieties about becoming a parent. Umrigar continues to impress. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents. (Sept.)