The Rummy Club

Anoop Ahuja Judge

The Rummy Club is a contemporary women’s novel about the intertwined fates of four women from India . They met in their teen years at an all-girls’ boarding high school, nestled in the Himalayas . Now in their 40’s, the lives of Mini, Divya, Alka, and Priya have brought each of them to the SF Bay Area. Sharing secrets since their teenage years, they reunite, and gather weekly to play the Indianized version of rummy. The novel provides a snapshot of the Indian
diaspora in the context of 21st century America.

Now the friends’ lives are all in crisis. Brilliant Alka’s abandoned ambitions and her dissatisfying marriage have turned her into an
obsessive Tiger Mother. Big-hearted Priya must face the truth about her collapsing marriage. Divya herself lies awake at night truggling with her envy of the comfortable stability her friends have already attained. And, in one unexpected moment, beautiful Mini suddenly becomes a widow, and begins dating a white guy. When Alka’s son attempts suicide and Divya’s frustrated longing for the American Dream spill over into the rummy game, their once dependable world is torn apart. Will the four friends ever play Rummy together again?