America For Beginners by Leah Franqui

 

They are a strange traveling group.  Mrs. Sengupta is a recent widow from a wealthy Indian family.  She is leaving her pampered life to try to find the son her husband rejected when he told them he was gay.  Rebecca is a failed actress who is hired to be Mrs. Sengupta's traveling companion as it wouldn't be proper for her to travel alone with just a male guide.  Satya is the male guide and he is a recent immigrant to the United States; in fact, this is his first tour and he is quite nervous about it.

They travel to various sites throughout the United States, heading always towards Los Angeles which is the last place the son was known to have been.  As they travel, Rebecca starts to question her life and whether she really wants to be an actress.  Mrs. Sengupta starts to loosen up, throwing aside some of the strictures that she grew up with and had to observe in India.  Satya starts out determined to be the expert, lying when he doesn't know something but gradually learns to relax and sometimes let others take the lead.  

Leah Franqui is an American author with a Yale degree in screenwriting.  She has written both novels and plays.  She lived in India for six years so she has the background to correctly portray the customs and rituals of the Indian characters.  But this book is about relationships.  Relationships with our children, with our lovers and with the people we meet along the way and call friends.  Each of the characters is changed by their travel, some gaining new life goals while others give up unhealthy ways of living.  This book is recommended for literary and multicultural readers.