Vijay’s debut novel is the tale of Shalini, a young woman living in Bangalore, India.  After her mother’s death, she is dissatisfied with her privileged, stagnant life, so she travels to Kashmir, a dangerous and primitive land, in search of a salesman who often visited her home when she was a child.  Shalini believes that if she finds him, questions she has about her mother will be answered.  What she encounters during her search is a world she never knew existed, a world and people who help her to understand herself.

The Far Field took me to a place I never knew anything about.  Kashmir has been and unstable and militia dominated land since 1947, fought over by Hindus and Muslims.  Madhuri Vijay’s excellent novel gave me insight into a young woman’s journey, the characters she lived with along the way,  and the plight of those living in Kashmir.