Told from the perspective of a dog Laura, Our Madhopur Home is a sprawling family saga about homes, displacement, and loss. Spanning three generations and a hundred years, it is a story of people, and it is a story of its times. As the patriarch of the family sees his children grow up and take different directions in their own lives, rural society in Bihar is also in a state of flux around him. Family expands, distance emerges, and between the walls of the house, finding home sometimes becomes difficult.
The realities of the family are intertwined with the fate of the zamindari system, poverty and want lurking in its shadow. While Laura is a loved and loyal member of the household, she is also an inconspicuous observer of the every-day affairs of the house, making her a surprisingly perfect narrator for this story of intimate bonds.
Chronicling the relationships between people and places, dogs and owners, and past and future, Our Madhopur Home is ambitious and compelling, and a worthy addition to the Indian tradition of fiction that combines social history with familial strife, remarkable in its ability to capture the full spectrum of human emotion.