Passage West

By: Rishi Reddi

Narrated by: Shawn K. Jain

A Recommended Book from BookRiot, Bustle, The Millions, and Teen Vogue

A Los Angeles Times Best California Book of 2020

A New England Independent Booksellers' 2020 New England Book Award finalist

A sweeping, vibrant first novel following a family of Indian sharecroppers at the onset of World War I, revealing a little-known part of California history.

The yerar 1914: Ram Singh arrives in the Imperial Valley on the Mexican border, reluctantly accepting his friend Karak’s offer of work and partnership in a small cantaloupe farm. Ram is unmoored; fleeing violence in Oregon, he desperately longs to return to his wife and newborn son in Punjab - but he is duty bound to make his fortune first.

In the Valley, American settlement is still new and the rules are ever shifting. Alongside Karak; Jivan and his wife, Kishen; and Amarjeet, a US soldier, Ram struggles to farm in the unforgiving desert. When he meets an alluring woman who has fought in Mexico’s revolution, he strives to stay true to his wife. The Valley is full of settlers hailing from other cities and different continents. The stakes are high, and times are desperate - just one bad harvest or stolen crop could destabilize a family. And as anti-immigrant sentiment rises among White residents, the tensions of life in the west finally boil over.

In her ambitious debut novel, Rishi Reddi, award-winning author of Karma and Other Stories, explores an enduring question: Who is welcome in America? Richly imagined and beautifully rendered, Passage West offers a moving portrait of one man’s search for home.

©2022 Rishi Reddi (P)2022 Spotify Audiobooks

Fascinating Glimpse of California History

My husband and i enjoyed listening to this in depth story of Indian immigrants who settled in the Imperial Valley in California. This was a glimpse of California history we were not taught in school (both of us grew up there). The story is told well and the author manages multiple points of view with skill. It also reveals traditional attitudes and values of the Indian men and some of the other characters. Mainly told from Rham's perspective, we learn of the struggle for independence and financial hegemony in a country fearful of dark skinned immigrants.

We wanted to hear more about what happened between the 1920s and the 1970s when it seems the family did prosper and thrive. But overall it was an engaging and heart-rending tale.

Wonderful work of historical fiction

Being an immigrant from India in this country I call home now, I did not fully understand the extent of the trials and tribulations my countrymen went through in this land. Indians of my generation for the most part think of themselves as white and do not fully understand the discriminatory history of this country against blacks and Hispanics. This book has painted an eye opening picture of the injustices and discriminations faced by people from India in the early part of twentieth century.