The Woman Who Knew Gandhi

Based on an aside in Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, in which he mentions a brief but seductive youthful flirtation with an Englishwoman, The Woman Who Knew Gandhi boldly imagines a long correspondence between a spiritual leader from the East and an ordinary woman from the West. In 1948, just after Gandhi's assassination, Martha Houghton receives a letter from Gandhi's son, who himself lies dying of tuberculosis in Bombay. Having found a stash of her letters to his father, he asks to meet her. The request sends Martha into a tailspin, for her husband knows nothing of her lifelong friendship with Gandhi.
Martha and her husband are forced to reevaluate their long marriage, and she must find a way to reconcile the disparate halves of her life. Moreover, their small community becomes a magnet for the press, and Martha finds her words twisted and used against her. Ultimately, she must decide whether to meet her old son's friend on his deathbed, or to remain in England and mend the rift in her marriage. Charmingly and elegantly written, The Woman Who Knew Gandhi explores the many definitions of love and friendship and the surprises of marriage.

Author: Keith Heller
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Published: 01/07/2004
Pages: 207
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.24h x 5.50w x 0.53d
ISBN: 9780618335459

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2003 pg. 1242
Publishers Weekly 12/01/2003 pg. 41
Booklist 12/01/2003 pg. 645
Library Journal 12/01/2003 pg. 166
Booksense '76 Jan/Feb 2004 01/01/2004 pg. 1

About the Author
Heller, Keith: - Keith Heller, born in Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1949, has written four previous novels. He has taught English in the United States, Japan, Madrid, and Argentina. His fiction has been published in numerous literary journals. Heller has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize anthology and was a finalist for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction.