Disillusioned with modern romance, globe-trotting Meena tries an arranged marriage with Avi, an aspiring politician in Ohio. But when Avi’s political opponent launches racist attacks, Meena and Avi are forced to defend their immigrant community, which narrowly understands its own traditions, and protect their increasingly shaky relationship. This is an intimate, funny, and heartbreaking novel about small-town America and the politics of marriage.

FOR THE BLESSINGS OF VENUS AND JUPITER by Varun Gauri, a debut novel, is the winner of the 2024 Carol Trawick Fiction Prize from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House.