The Lowland (Knopf, $27.95) is a masterful tale rooted in the close relationship of two brothers who nonetheless take different paths. Udayan remains in Calcutta to support Naxalite reform, while Subhash seeks an education in marine chemistry in Rhode Island. The narrative builds slowly, gracefully making the reader aware of connections, shifting moods, intentions, and impressions—footprints in cement and on a beach, letters on a wall and on the pages of a journal, for instance. What endures? What fades? Jhumpa Lahiri’s light touch in character development has a gradual, but undeniable, cumulative power, and by the end of this multi-generational saga that extends over two continents, readers are fully invested in the many subtle changes that ultimately spark cataclysmic moments of crisis, irrevocably altering these characters’ lives.