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“A voice whose promise and powers are vast.…” Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum
A “smart and original collection…” Vauhini Vara
Relationships are at the heart of The Confines. Set in the U.S. and India, the collection follows characters navigating the unspoken rules of conservative society—a tension that runs through the stories. Rules that make marriage even more complex and thwart relationships. Imagine falling deeply in love but being unable to utter a word due to convention. What do you do? With dark humor and piercing psychological insight, the stories in The Confines reveal the compromises and hopes that shape our search for happiness.
early PRAISE FOR THE CONFINES
“Inviting, expansive, and prismatic, Anu Kandikuppa's The Confines is anything but limited. Her sharply observed stories unfold in ever-surprising directions as her characters strain against the narrowness of their lives and their marriages. A nuanced portrait of women navigating old constraints and fresh expectations, The Confines introduces a voice whose promise and powers are vast.”
—Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of National Book Award finalist Madeleine Is Sleeping, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, and Likes
“The sharp-edged stories in this smart and original collection are characterized by memorable girls and women whose desperation not to let life get the best of them is palpable; I read each of these psychologically complex portraits with my breath caught in my throat. An impressive debut.”
—Vauhini Vara, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist The Immortal King Rao and This Is Salvaged
“Anu Kandikuppa writes with glorious precision about unhappy marriages and the quiet desperation of middle-class life in America and India. In one of these darkly comic stories, we see a man's attachment to his wife: ‘He felt awed by her intellect, energized by her discontent.’ The brilliant gloom of The Confines thrilled me. Read this collection to behold a marvelous literary alchemy—the characters' gripes become gems. Their loneliness keeps us company, and their dissatisfaction transforms into our delight.”
—Polly Rosenwaike, author of Look How Happy I'm Making You
“From the first very captivating, subtly funny story, Anu Kandikuppa writes engrossing, thoughtful fiction that delves below the surface of ‘model minority’ lives. Reminiscent of Anne Tyler's lovably maladjusted married couples, Kandikuppa uses a compassionate and irreverent view of marriage to illuminate Indian diaspora. You will enjoy this book.”
—Chaya Bhuvaneswar, PEN/Bingham finalist author of White Dancing Elephants: Stories
“An infinitely compelling collection of stories that captures the small gestures and tectonic shifts in families and communities. Throughout The Confines, Anu Kandikuppa observes detail with precision and with a sly ironic wit. The worlds around her characters shimmer with a longing for connection, affection, and a place that genuinely feels like home. What a lovely book this is!”
—David Haynes, author of Martha’s Daughter
Anu Kandikuppa’s work has appeared in New England Review, Colorado Review, Story, and many other journals. She is a 2024 recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Creative Individual grant.