Trail of Broken Wings
Sejal Badani, 2015
Amazon Publishing
370 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781477822081
Summary
Nominee, 2015 Goodreads Best Book of the Year.
When her father falls into a coma, Indian American photographer Sonya reluctantly returns to the family she’d fled years before. Since she left home, Sonya has lived on the run, free of any ties, while her soft-spoken sister, Trisha, has created a perfect suburban life, and her ambitious sister, Marin, has built her own successful career.
But as these women come together, their various methods of coping with a terrifying history can no longer hold their memories at bay.
Buried secrets rise to the surface as their father—the victim of humiliating racism and perpetrator of horrible violence—remains unconscious. As his condition worsens, the daughters and their mother wrestle with private hopes for his survival or death, as well as their own demons and buried secrets.
Told with forceful honesty, Trail of Broken Wings reveals the burden of shame and secrets, the toxicity of cruelty and aggression, and the exquisite, liberating power of speaking and owning truth. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
A former attorney, Sejal Badani left the law to pursue writing full time. She was an ABC/Disney Writing Fellowship and CBS Writing Fellowship Finalist.
When not writing, she loves reading, biking along the ocean, traveling and trying to teach her teacup Morkie not to hide socks under the bed (so far she has been completely unsuccessful). Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, and Ed Sheeran are always playing in the background. She would love to speak to book clubs via Skypes. (From the author's website.)
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Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers talking points to help start your discussion for TRAIL OF BROKEN WINGS … then take off on your own:
1. Trail of Broken Wings is told through four different characters. Whose story, or character, do you find most compelling, and why? The persepctives, however, vary: two use a first-person narration, while two others use a third-person. Why might the author have chosen two differing points of view?
2. Talk about the different ways in which the sisters have responded to, or coped with, their father's abuse.
3. Brent the father is comatose through the book, yet he is possibly the most influential character. Talk about who he is--what we come to learn about him. How have his past actions affected the lives of his wife and daughters? Do you have sympathy for him? Might extenuating circumstances excuse his actions?
4. What does this book suggest about the power of secrets—in a family or in an individual life? What is your personal understanding of why secrets become secrets? Might it be better for some of life's suffering to be kept under wraps—or do you think it's always best to bring them to light, to keep them from becoming "secrets"?
5. To what extent does the past determine the future? Is it possible to ever break free of the past—and if so, how? What does this novel seem to say?
6. What part does trust and love play in healing in Trail of Broken Wings?
7. What is the significance of the book's title, "Trail of Broken Wings"?
8. What do you think of the book's ending? Is it earned? Or is it unrealistic and pat?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)