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Arundhati Roy’s First Memoir Draws Early Praise Ahead of U.S. Release

Roy revisits loss through a portrait of Mary Roy, a pioneering educator whose Supreme Court fight expanded inheritance rights.

Overview

  • In Mother Mary Comes to Me, Roy reflects on a complex mother–daughter bond and her own formative years, with an excerpt published by CBS News on August 31.
  • The book reaches U.S. readers September 2 via Scribner and is already on sale in India, with hardcover, e‑book and audio editions available.
  • Mary Roy’s legacy anchors the narrative, including her founding of Pallikoodam School in Kottayam and a 1986 Supreme Court victory securing equal inheritance rights for Syrian Christian women.
  • The Guardian’s September 1 review calls the memoir “brave and absorbing,” highlighting vivid early-life chapters and later sections that engage Roy’s political critiques.
  • Reviewers note autobiographical strands that touch on Roy’s Kerala childhood, studies in Delhi, sudden literary fame, and long-running positions on nuclear policy and the Sardar Sarovar dam.