The shadow bride

The story begins in the late 1920s with Betta Singh's return from his medical studies in Dublin to Guyana and the opulent chaos of his mother's household. Mrs. Singh, a curiously vulnerable widow and fiercely possessive mother, wears pants and gives orders like a man. She wants her son to stay with her and open a private practice, but Betta is determined to devote his expertise to those who need it most - his own people, the destitute descendants of immigrants from India. He rejects the insulated world of his mother's home and once again leaves her, accepting an appointment as a Government…