Fasting, Feasting, Paperback/Anita Desai

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 1999 BOOKER PRIZEUma, the plain, spinster daughter of a close-knit Indian family, is trapped at home, smothered by her overbearing parents and their traditions, unlike her ambitious younger sister Aruna, who brings off a 'good' marriage, and brother Arun, the disappointing son and heir who is studying in America.