This is a tale of a family populated by very believable and lifelike individuals, caught up in a life-changing tragedy stemming from (mostly) a momentary lapse of judgement. (The scope and style and theme somewhat reminded me of "A Hundred Years of Solitude", but wasn't nearly so multi-generational.) The family, who have been Christian for many generations, live in a village in southern India where they run a small pickled pineapple and mango factory. For the most part, the story takes place during a week in the 1969, but also jumps forward 20+ years. We actually start at the later time, and see that this family is broken but we don't know why.  We know an English girl died in India but not the circumstances.  The details come out slowly and the full picture is only known at the very end.  It's like we see the end result first, then get everything fleshed out later.

Confusingly, the sequence of events doesn't just jump between two timelines, but between several days of the fateful week and then the future. This is my key complaint about the book ... it sometimes seemed like the author wrote the story in sequence, printed it all out, then threw the pages up in the air and picked them up in random order, and that's how the book was published. I actually didn't quite understand one key motivation (why the twins ran away from home) until I read the plot summary on wikipedia, which is thankfully relayed in chronological order.

The characters:

  • Rahel (F) and Esta (M), around 7 year old twins. Kids of Amu.
  • Amu, the twins mother. She married an alcoholic Hindu and fled his abuse shortly after the twins were born, back to her hometown.
  • Mamachi, Amu's mother and widow of Papachi, an imperial entomologist who discovered a new species of moth but never got the credit. Mamachi started the family pickle business.
  • Chacko, Amu's brother. A Rhodes scholar, he married an English woman and had a daughter before she divorced him. Afterwards he returned to his home town and manages he pickle business.
  • Baby Kochima, Amu's aunt. Was nearly a nun (in an attempt to spend more time with a priest she had a crush on) but instead became an old maid. Kind of a busybody.
  • Sophie Mol, Chacko's half-English daughter. Chacko hasn't seen her since she was a baby, when she arrives for a visit with her mother during the fateful week. Age about 8-9.
  • Velutha - an untouchable carpenter/handyman working in the pickle factory. Somewhat involved in the Marxist demonstrations common at the time in India.

Spoilers ahead!

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Amu does love her kids, but is bitter about her diminished prospects as a woman abandoned by her husband. She has been having a secret affair with Velutha, who is kind and is good with the twins. This would be very, very bad if it ever became public due to his caste. Well, guess what; it is found out during the week Sophie Mol is visiting, and the family has a big fit. During the confrontation, Amu blames the twins for her having to find love with an untouchable. The twins decide to run away from home - not seriously, but to make Amu realize she really loves them. Sophie Mol goes with the twins out of solidarity. They cross a river in the night, and their boat capsizes; Sophie Mol is drowned but the others survive. They make it to their destination, the old house of a British official, abandoned for decades. Velutha, on the run since he was tipped off that the affair has been discovered, has independently also arrived at the house - I guess it is kind of the only "secret hideout" kind of place in town! They camp there for the night.

Meanwhile, the family notices that the children and Velutha are missing. They don't know about the boat yet. Baby Kochima tells the police that Velutha has kidnapped the kids - she has no evidence for this but assumes it is true, since she can't see him now as anyone other than one bent on destroying her family. The police track him down and beat him nearly to death in front of the twins. When they are all back at the police station, Baby Kochima convinces the twins to lie and say he really did kidnap them, since otherwise the police will prosecute her for a false report (they are worried about the savage beating of an innocent man stirring up trouble with the local Marxists).

Velutha dies of his injuries; Sophie Mol's body is found. Chacko and his ex-wife are obviously shattered and blame Amu and the twins. Amu is thrown out of the house, disowned by her family. Esta is sent off to live with his abusive father, and Rahel stays with her grandma and aunt.

Years later, Esta and Rahel reunite in their home town. Both are ravaged by guilt and tragedy. Esta is a broken man who doesn't speak. Rahel just can't feel any happiness not matter what she does. The pickle factory is no more. We see how a little thing had big consequences - the family has been devastated, all due to a remark made in haste and anger (at least that was the proximate cause).

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