*Starred Review* Set in Southern India at the end of the nineteenth century, Mandanna's magnificent debut follows the fortunes of two childhood friends throughout their lives. Precocious, sparkling Devi, adored by her parents, reaches out to Devanna, whose mother left his father and committed suicide, leaving the boy's place in his family uncertain. Devi and Devanna become the closest of friends, but as they grow older, Devanna develops feelings for Devi that she doesn't share. Devi has eyes for only one man, Machu, a cousin of Devanna's who is renowned for killing a tiger during a hunt. When Devi reaches her teens, she pursues the older Machu, vowing he's the only man she'll marry. Devanna studies science and herbal remedies with a German missionary, who thinks of him as a son and helps him gain entrance to a university in Bangalore to study medicine. A brutish fellow student makes Devanna's experience at the university miserable, and a final monstrous transgression sends Devanna running back home to commit an act that will change the course of his life and Devi's forever. Once the story gets going, it is impossible to stop reading Mandanna's spellbinding epic.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2010 Booklist

Star-crossed lovers in India at the turn of the 20th century, drawn from first-time novelist Mandanna's family history.In the lush region of Coorg in southwestern India, three interrelated noble families, the Nachimandas, Kambeymadas and Palladas, dominate a bucolic mountain valley. A flight of herons marks the birth of Devi, whom her grandmother Tayi recognizes as a special child. Similarly, herons are present when young Machu, a scion of the Kambeymadas, admiresbaby Devi'slungpower. Devi grows up with her cousin Devanna, who is adopted by her father after his mother's suicide. The two are inseparable playmates, until Devanna's burgeoning interest in botany and scholarly mien attracts a mentor, Reverend Gundert, the founder of a nearby mission school. Devi, a beauty, has a long history with Machu. At ten, she attends a tiger wedding celebrating Machu's daring conquest of a tiger. From thence Machu will be known as the "tiger killer." For years, Devi, determined to wed Machu, refuses proposals from many other suitors. Devanna, meanwhile, excels at his studies, and Gundert secures his admission to Bangalore Medical College, where he is mercilessly hazed by upperclassmen who envy his genius. Although the attraction between Machu and Devi is palpable, he won't acknowledge it because he has, to honor a Hindu god, vowed to remain celibate for 12 years. However, Devi promises to wait for him, and in the meantime they meet in the jungle for chaste but impassioned encounters. Devanna, who has always loved Devi, is driven mad when his tormentors sodomize him and murder his beloved pet. Returning home blind drunk, he rapes Devi, and her family can find no other solution than to force a marriage between them. She gives birth to a son, Nanjappa. Sworn to secrecy by Tayi, Devi cannot reveal to the devastated Machu why she broke her promise. Tragic consequences ensue, which will alter the destinies of the three clans.Beautiful prose and delicate handling prevent this melodrama from becoming maudlin.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Set on a coffee plantation in India called Tiger Hills, this first novel tells the story of the spirited Devi Nachimada. The only girl in her family for many years, Devi is adored by almost everyone, especially the young boy Devanna, and she is her father's favored, much-doted-on child. Devi uses her special status to get whatever she wants-and the one thing she knows she wants from an early age is to marry the mesmerizing and celebrated tiger killer, Machu. Devi pursues Machu steadfastly, much to the sorrow of the devoted Devanna. While Devi's scheme does not go exactly as planned, she does become a powerful force on her plantation. Spanning years and multiple locations, the novel introduces a variety of well-developed characters, and plot twists keep the reader wondering how all the drama will play out. VERDICT A great read that will have many points of discussion for any book group; highly recommended.-Leann Restaino, Girard, OH (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

IN fictional love triangles, the heroine is often presented with two options: the dashing bad boy or the nice, dependable dud. Just such a triangle appears in "Tiger Hills," the first novel by Sarita Mandanna, which opens in the South Indian district of Coorg (where Mandanna was born) at the turn of the 20th century. The novel's heroine is Devi, a girl so willful that, at age 10, she declares to her mother that she will marry no one other than Machaiah, a handsome local hero and famed tiger hunter. She has no idea that her lifelong friend, the shy, sensitive Devanna - Machaiah's younger cousin - harbors his own hopes of marrying her. And so "Tiger Hills" seems bound for territory already well trod by Jane Austen and Jennifer Aniston. But time and again, Mandanna steers her novel in surprising directions. More than a love story, "Tiger Hills" explores the hazardous side of passion and the shackling grip of memory once love has been thwarted. It also vividly evokes Coorg itself - the coffee plantations, the European settlers, the age-old clans - offering an illuminating portrait of place through six decades of social change. As children, Devi and Devanna are practically inseparable. Both attend a missionary school, run by Reverend Gundert, a German priest and amateur botanist, who recognizes Devanna's intelligence and resolves to make a civilized doctor of the boy. Upon leaving the village for Bangalore Medical College, however, Devanna is cast into a claustrophobic hell of abuse, perpetrated by a tyrannical fellow student. To cope with his most harrowing ordeals, he lapses into half-mad spells, reciting the names of his beloved botany texts ("Flora Sylvatica, Flora Indica") and contemplating his love for Devi: "Close they had been, ever since he could remember, like two eggs in a nest." Back in the village, Devi is carrying on a secret relationship with Machaiah, full of ardent promises and sexual longing. While Devanna suffers far from Coorg, Machaiah and Devi are as bound to the land as they are to each other. Surveying the hills, Devi feels "a sense of belonging, natural as breath. Like ... a bird, folding its wings, come home to roost at last" But all idyll is destroyed once Devanna returns and, in a shocking series of events, forces Devi to be his wife. Of the three characters, Devanna - romantic and ambitious, tortured and heartbroken - is the most nuanced. Mandanna delicately charts the psychological breakdown that leads him to violence and Lifelong regret. As the novel surges ahead, though, it turns to Devi and Machaiah, and the continuation of their ill-fated affair. The plot gathers in energy and pace, but these characters aren't as fascinating as Devanna, and their emotions can feel overly articulated, their dialogue stilted with metaphors bordering on melodrama. The novel accelerates through several momentous historical events, including both world wars and the Indian independence movement. But while the passage of years gives the book an epic sweep, the story loses some of its carefully accrued depth. Few of the novel's late plot twists deliver the emotional force of a single ruminative scene in which an older Devanna recalls the rare bamboo flower he had longed to discover as a boy, in the jungles of Coorg, just so he could name it after his childhood love: Bambusa indica devi. "There was so much left to say," Devanna thinks, but he goes no further, leaving the reader to feel the reverberations of what he has lost. Tania James is the author of the novel "Atlas of Unknowns." Her first story collection is to be published next year.

Set in southern India, Mandanna's epic if overly dramatic debut follows the fortunes of two intertwined families from the late 19th century to the eve of WWII. Devanna is a young boy when his mother commits suicide, and the one person he relates to is his best friend, the lovely and adored Devi: "They became a staple sight in the village, the pale-skinned firebrand and her scrawny worshipper; if Devi had fascinated him before, Devanna now clung to her like a bedraggled puppy." But when she's 10 years old, Devi meets Devanna's adult cousin, Machu, a hero for having killed a tiger, and from that day, decides that she will marry only Machu. This childish notion becomes the driving force in her life. Years pass before she is able to arrange a meeting with Machu, but to Devi's dismay, he seems immune to her beauty. Unaware of Devi's desire, Devanna begins his medical school studies and plans a future with her. At school, though, he endures cruel hazing and he returns home a different man, which changes the course of many lives. Mandanna's sweeping saga is ambitious, engaging, and relentlessly tragic. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.