Desirable Daughters
novel by Bharati Mukherjee
Desirable Daughters (2002) is the first in a trilogy of novels by American-Canadian Bharati Mukherjee which includes The Tree Bride (2004), followed by Miss New India (2011). The book was originally published by Hyperion / Theia.
Plot
The novel is told from the point of view of the protagonist, Tara Bhattacharjee, the youngest of three desirable Bengali sisters. The three hail from a prosperous and urbane Calcutta family and are "raised according to the genteel social conventions and hallowed domestic traditions of India."
Tara compares her life and the life of her family, past and present, with a direct ancestor named Tara Lata. The modern Tara says about her ancient ancestor, "Tara Lata Gangooly had turned the tragedy of her husband's death and a lifetime's virginity into a model of selfless saintliness."
However, the modern Tara sees her life as perhaps the opposite of selflessness. She moved with her husband to Silicon Valley. Then, Tara jettisoned the mores, ethics and beliefs of her upbringing. She is divorced, has a live-in boyfriend, and retains custody of her completely acculturated son.
In contrast, the oldest sister, Padma, has become the perfect representative of the expatriate, ardently retaining her Indian identity in New Jersey. Parvati, the middle sister, has stayed in India and leads an affluent family lifestyle.
The public source identifies “Desirable Daughters” as novel by Bharati Mukherjee. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Desirable, Daughters and novel.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5264466. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002, 2004 and 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “Desirable Daughters” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.