A woman grieves a miscarriage, haunted by the Buddha's birth. An artist with schizophrenia tries to survive hatred and indifference in small-town India by turning to the beauty of sculpture and dance. Orphans in India get pulled into a strange "rescue" mission aimed at stripping their mysterious powers. A brief but intense affair between two women culminates in regret and betrayal. A boy seeks memories of his sister in the legend of a woman who weds death. And fragments of history, from child brick makers to slaves in Renaissance Portugal, are held up in brief fictions, burnished, made dazzling and unforgettable. In sixteen remarkable stories, Chaya Bhuvaneswar spotlights diverse women of color-cunning, bold, and resolute-facing sexual harassment and racial violence, and occasionally inflicting that violence on each other. Winner of the 2017 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, White Dancing Elephants marks the emergence of a new and original voice in fiction and explores feminist, queer, religious, and immigrant stories with precision, drama, and compassion.
"The 17 stories in this debut collection take place around the world, exploring queer and interracial love, extramarital affairs, and grief over the disappearances of loved ones. The book provocatively probes the aftermath-the aftermath of death, of grim diagnoses, of abandonment, of monumental errors in judgment. Passages jump back and forth in time to dissect how the consequences of a fraught ev
Kirkus Reviews (starred)
"Bhuvaneswar tackles the intricate interactions of race, class, and sexuality in this enticing debut... The political charge of each relationship is reinforced by Bhuvaneswar's articulation of the simmering drama created by them...The collection is sharp and provocative, and Bhuvaneswar's voice rings true."
Publishers Weekly
"Bhuvaneswar's compelling stories portray diverse characters grappling with shifts in their lives, the complications of their actions, and the impacts of others...a striking collection."
