Circa

A stunning, gut-punch of a novel about navigating family expectations, complicated love, and devastating loss

On the cusp of her eighteenth birthday, Heera and her best friends, siblings Maria and Marco, tease the fun out of life in Raleigh, North Carolina, with acts of rebellion and delinquency. They paint the town's water towers with red anarchy symbols and hang out at the local bus station to pickpocket money for their great escape to New York. But no matter how much Heera defies her strict upbringing, she's always avoided any real danger---until one devastating night changes everything.   

    In its wake, Marco transforms. He begins calling himself Crash and spends his days womanizing and burning through a string of jobs. Meanwhile, Heera's dream to go to college in New York is suddenly upended. 

    In the years that follow, Heera's and Crash's paths cross and recross on a journey of dreams, jealousies, and betrayals. Heera's need to meet her family's wishes collides with her desires for a life with Crash. In their connection, Devi S. Laskar presents a master class in intimacy and emotional longing that is as complicated as it is relatable. 

   Heart-wrenching, darkly funny, and buoyed by gorgeous prose, Circa, is at once an irresistible love story and a portrait of a young woman torn between duty and survival, between obligation and freedom.