The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny

Sunny moves into a rental house. Living in isolation, he acquires a collection of Artes de México magazine-books, including an issue on Ilan. The images of Ilan’s clay creature sculptures remind him of the ghost hound. Looking at one painting, Sunny realizes that Ilan only ever paints his own eyes onto his subjects.

Sunny occasionally visits a bar called Palapa Bob’s, which is owned by an American named Bob. The bar is a hotspot for other American expats, who thrive on Mexico’s cheap prices. When the September 11th attacks occur, Bob calls the perpetrators of the attack “cowards.” Sunny suggests that the perpetrators were deeply committed to their intentions. This causes Bob to antagonize Sunny, describing him as ungrateful for all the privileges that the United States gave him. Sunny leaves before Bob attacks him with a tequila bottle.

Back in his shack, Sunny feels resentment for the Americans who have never experienced war or strife while also acknowledging that the perpetrators of the attacks would have killed him as well. He wishes he were still in New York to report on the racist attacks against people of color.

Satya emails Sunny to check on him. Bob apologizes to Sunny and attributes his behavior to patriotism. The validation of this apology makes Sunny want to reconcile with Sonia. Sunny predicts that the United States will eventually find a way to profit from the memory of the September 11th attacks.

To pay for Manav’s treatment, Sonia has the family jewels and antiques appraised. Manav condemns Sonia for always preferring Seher over him. Sonia resents Manav for saying so, even as Manav offers to buy Sonia a necklace.

Sonia and Manav watch the news on the September 11th attacks. Sonia worries about Ilan and Sunny, then feels guilty that she thought about Ilan first. Manav gifts Sonia the necklace, promising that her future husband will be lucky to have her.

After monsoon season, Babita makes the acquaintance of a manager named Gerson, whom she tries to seduce. Gerson flees from her.

One day, a woman named Edelweiss claims that she owns a corner of the property on which Babita’s house stands. She inherited it from her father, who remains buried on the lot, and seeks to build a house there for her family. Soon, other people come with their own claims. Babita reaches out to Umberto, who explains that he had a Goan liaison who executed the property sale on his behalf. A lawyer advises Babita not to leave the property to avoid property loss. This prevents her from following Sunny to Mexico.

Soon after, Babita learns of the September 11th attacks and immediately reaches out to Sunny. Sunny indicates that he will need to stay in Mexico to avoid further disaster. Babita receives another threatening call, asking after her valuables. Babita hides herself in the altar room, where she asserts her innocence to God. She is quickly reminded of the guilt she felt over her infidelity to her husband.

Manav is readmitted to Athena Hospital for further treatment. His inefficient treatment provokes constant anger in Sonia. Sonia refuses Seher’s company, telling her to be useful instead. Manav similarly turns belligerent, accusing the nurses and Seher of transgressions against him. Finally, he accuses Sonia of abandoning him by failing to live up to his expectations. Manav is eventually admitted to intensive care. He dies of organ failure.

Manav’s friends and family visit to pay their respects. One morning, Sonia hears Manav’s voice asking her not to attend his cremation. Sonia stays home and grieves for him in private. The neighbors gossip that Sonia failed to bring Manav to the United States for treatment and that Seher has only returned for Manav’s money.

Satya visits Sunny and apologizes for their estrangement. He admits that his marriage to Pooja has been challenging. Terrified of her new environment in the United States, Pooja was reluctant to assimilate in any way.

Over time, Satya became disillusioned with his marriage and disappointed with his work as a general practitioner. When Satya learned that Sunny was in Mexico, he felt the compulsion to flee from his fate. Satya’s escapist desires prompted Pooja to take on a stronger personality. They moved to Appalachia, where Satya is now looking for work. Pooja is pregnant with Satya’s child.

Sunny tells Satya about his breakup with Sonia. When Sunny describes Sonia’s fear of the darkness chasing her as “madness,” Satya expresses sympathy for Sonia. He suggests that Sunny should confront the painter who hurt Sonia, believing that whatever happens, it will lead to greater outcomes.

Sunny reads a magazine and sees that it includes a short piece on Ilan. The piece indicates that Ilan is painting a recreation of his signature work, Mother Swimming, in a chapel on his property in Mexico. He also remembers Sonia asking him to retrieve her amulet.

Seher and Sonia go to the Uttarkashi valley to immerse Manav’s ashes in the Ganga river, but learn that the river has been drained. While staying the night in the valley, they encounter a man who claims to have known Siegfried. He recalls Siegfried describing Badal Baba as a sorcerer of transformation, rather than as a protector against evil spirits.

The anecdote leaves Seher in shock as the two women return to Cloud Cottage. Sonia reflects on the fact that Badal Baba never protected her, but only led her closer to her displacement. That winter, Sonia urges Seher to let go of her attachment to the past and leave the cottage. Seher refuses, sequestering herself.

Ferooza calls Seher and Sonia with news of the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat. Seher comments that they are reliving the violence of the Partition.

Sonia decides that she must overcome her repressive thoughts and build an independent life. She resolves to return to Goa and write fiction again. Ferooza encourages her, citing several examples of independent women living in Goa, including Babita.

Seher and Ferooza bring Sonia to Goa, where they immerse Manav’s ashes into the ocean.

Sonia fends off questions from men by telling them that she is married to a rocket scientist in the United States. She swims in the ocean to calm herself down, even if it means putting her life at risk in the strong tide. While thinking of what she can write about, she settles upon using the ocean as a central motif for her life.

Sonia becomes friends with a German Iranian actor named Darius, who left his home country to escape persecution under its antigay laws. When Sonia shares her experiences of Ilan and the ghost hound, Darius frames the experience as something positive: While Ilan benefited from exploiting Sonia, Sonia also gained insight and experience that she can draw from for her writing. Darius encourages Sonia to steal back from Ilan, putting their story at the center of her writing. Sonia still feels, however, that she cannot write about herself because her soul still belongs to Ilan. Before Darius leaves Goa, he tells her to find her answer in the ghost hound.

Sonia considers Darius’s advice but hesitates to depict her relationship with Ilan in a stereotypical way. She calls Seher, who advises her to be practical about her fear and to consider seeking help from Babita. Guided again by Darius’s advice, Sonia writes a short piece where Ilan predicts the appearance of the ghost hound while he is sketching Sonia. She describes a sea serpent in her piece. The next day, Sonia sees snakeskin outside her door. Sonia calls Mina Foi to ask how she can escape evil. Mina says it is pointless to escape evil.

Sonia writes another piece about a woman who has been killed. The woman’s ghost speaks to her own portrait to find out why she remained at the site of her murder. The portrait explains that her life was more intense than ordinary life and that she couldn’t belong to either of the places where she had resided, India and the United States, because she wanted to live in the realm of strangeness. The woman stayed with Ilan because of her loyalty to art. She saw his abuse as a prerequisite for her ability to believe in uncanny things, like the reality of the ghost hound.

Dizzy with insight, Sonia returns to the ocean and floats out far from the shoreline. Her father’s voice urges her to return to the shore to preserve her life. Sonia encounters the ghost hound again, which she tries to send away. The ghost hound vanishes inside her.

Babita considers selling her wedding jewelry to finance her travel to Mexico, but ultimately is reluctant to part with her jewels. Later that night, the doorbell rings. Babita is afraid of answering it at first, but then she learns that it is Sonia. Sonia explains that she was attacked. Babita welcomes her, but because she is afraid of saying anything that might offend Sonia, Babita offers her dinner and a movie.

Sonia and Babita watch a film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. They finish the movie late, prompting Babita to offer Sonia a room to stay for the night. Neither Babita nor Sonia can sleep. Babita blames the film. Sonia blames the ghost hound, which Babita can only relate to with the threatening phone calls she has received. They both acknowledge that the other’s loneliness is terrifying. Later, Sonia dreams of herself permitting Ilan to kill her.

The following week, Sonia writes to thank Babita for her hospitality. The note includes the kitchen recipes Babita coveted from the Shah family.

Babita informs Sunny that she will not come to Mexico. Her restrictive living situation upsets Sunny, and when Babita tells Sunny about Sonia’s visit, Sunny becomes angrier with himself.

Sunny looks through the photos he has of Ilan’s house to look for signs of Sonia’s amulet. While he does not find it, he recognizes Ilan’s eyes as the eyes of the ghost hound.

Sunny travels to Ilan’s property and elicits his attention by yelling the title of his painting, Mother Swimming, through the keyhole. Sunny claims he is there for an interview.

Ilan discusses his mother and his antiques collection. Sunny asks about the demon amulet he saw in Ilan’s paintings. Ilan describes the vanity of the demon he calls Cloud Baba, who only comes to Ilan when Ilan promises to paint him. Sunny asks about the contradiction of Ilan’s happiness, which requires him to be unhappy before he can thrive. He asks if Ilan has hurt anyone in the process of attaining happiness. Ilan is offended by the question, citing his present isolation as an answer. He grows increasingly agitated until he decides to throw Sunny out, claiming that Sunny only came to hurt him. Ilan throws Sunny’s notebook away and weeps until Sunny leaves.

Waiting outside, Sunny sees Ilan emerge from an alternate entrance. Sunny follows the entrance and discovers a young woman crying in the kitchen. The woman, who reminds Sunny of a younger Sonia, is shocked by Sunny’s appearance, explaining that Ilan charged her with guarding the secret door. Since Ilan has been dreaming that an enemy would come for him, he has been paranoid about visitors. The woman is reluctant to leave Ilan because she is afraid of what will happen to her after she leaves.

Sunny elicits the woman’s sympathy by explaining that Ilan’s demon talisman belongs to Sonia. He encourages the woman to think of life beyond Ilan. This convinces her to let Sunny inside. Sunny breaks into the chapel and retrieves Badal Baba and his notebook before Ilan can return.

Sunny offers to help the woman escape. Back at his inn, Sunny asks the innkeeper about the woman, but the innkeeper does not know about her. Later that night, the woman arrives at his room, shaken by her escape. She is guilty about abandoning Ilan and fears that he will find her. Sunny stays outside the room to watch for Ilan. The next morning, the woman is gone.

Babita is both overjoyed and embarrassed over Sonia’s gift of the family recipes. She feels indebted to Sonia and invites her back to the house. Sonia stays over again.

When neither of them can sleep, Babita offers her condolences over Manav’s death. She concedes that she and Manav had inherited the trauma of their parents during the Partition, which never allowed them to feel rooted in Allahabad. She also admits to enjoying Sonia’s nonfiction writing. Finally, Babita apologizes for trying to “steal” Khansama away from the Shah family. Sonia consoles Babita for her guilt over Vinita and Punita by communicating news she heard from Ferooza, which suggests that the girls are living under assumed names in another state. This relieves Babita and makes her grateful to God.

Still guilty, Babita confesses her jealousy towards Sonia. Sonia argues that what caused her rift with Sunny was not Babita, but the ghost hound. Agreeing that the universe conspires to keep people lonely, they decide to work together to overcome loneliness. Later, Sonia dreams of herself confronting Ilan and recovering the amulet. The following morning, Babita gives Sonia her jewels.

Sunny fears that Ilan will pursue him to retrieve the amulet. Several days later, a news report indicates that Ilan has vanished without a trace.

Leaving Mexico, Sunny tells the immigration officer that he overstayed his visa because of love. He travels to Babita’s house and sees her and Sonia through the window. Sunny performs an owl call, which Sonia instantly recognizes as Sunny. He returns the amulet to her.

The novel ends with Sunny waking up to find that Sonia has gone swimming in the ocean. He follows her into the water.