Blind Sight

'I once was a female in a far-off country.' In this essential memoir, Ivy George recounts the burden of being a woman in her native India, and her flight to the West chasing a freedom that remained elusive.    Raised in Madras with an imperfection she kept hidden from the world, Ivy George grew up caught between two forces: a fast-modernizing India that prized tradition and a more Western impulse to chart her own course. When she left for the United States to earn a doctorate and her autonomy, she believed she had escaped the life that had been mapped out for her. Years later, she would grow skeptical of her pursuit of freedom in the west which appeared to render individuals reliant on themselves. The elusiveness of the freedom she sought leads her to make the agonizing decision to return to India for an arranged marriage. She would again return for another burial which she found life-giving. The 2026 publication of this memoir detailing an Indian American woman’s life is particularly timely on this 250th anniversary of the United States. As a nation state made up of natives and newcomers this memoir is an ode to the idea that Many indeed make our One, and the One contains Many.The book describes the daunting journey of one woman in all its rich poignancy and beauty and offers unique insights into both East and West in the late 20th century. 6