Eighty-year-old Ma slips into a deep depression after the death of her husband. Despite her family’s cajoling, she refuses to leave her bed. Her responsible eldest son and dutiful daughter-in-law attend to her every need, while her favorite grandson, the cheerful and gregarious Sid, tries to lift her spirits with his guitar. But it is only after Sid’s younger brother—Serious Son, a young man pathologically incapable of laughing— brings his grandmother a sparkling golden cane covered with butterflies that things begin to change. With a new lease on life thanks to the magic of the cane, Ma gets out of bed and embarks on a series of adventures that baffles even her unconventional feminist daughter, Beti. She ditches her cumbersome saris, develops a close friendship with a hijra, and sets off on a fateful journey that will turn the family’s understanding of themselves upside down. Rich with fantastical elements, folklore, and exuberant wordplay, Geetanjali Shree’s magnificent novel explore