America for Beginners

When the recently widowed Pival Sengupta of Kolkata books a trip with the First Class India USA Destination Vacation Tour Company, she’s not planning a sightseeing extravaganza typical of upper-class Indian tourists. Her mission is to find out the truth about her adored but estranged son, Rahi, who had been living in California. Rahi had only recently come out as gay when Pival’s husband received a phone call saying Rahi had died suddenly. Or had he?
The tour itself, planned by indefatigable tour company owner Ronnie Munshi, is a work of haphazard improvisation. Ronnie has claimed his slice of the American dream and built a successful business catering to affluent Indian visitors, even if he’s not entirely forthcoming with certain details, like the fact that he and his staff are from Bangladesh, not India. The guide Ronnie selects for Pival’s cross-country trip is an earnest rookie named Satya, who arrived in New York only a year earlier and has never actually left the five boroughs. But Satya is respectful and resourceful, and Ronnie feels sure that if he can just find the right female chaperone to accompany them on the tour—for modesty’s sake—his rich lady client is sure to get her money’s worth. Enter Rebecca Elliot, a twentysomething aspiring actress whose career isn’t quite taking off.
As this unlikely trio travels the United States, Pival, Ronnie, and Rebecca will learn to see America in different, and more profound, ways than they anticipated.

“A tender, funny, wrenching, beautifully executed tale of three lost souls who traverse the chasms of cultural, generational, and geographical divides to forge some bonds strong and true enough to withstand life’s gut punches.” — Library Journal (starred review)
“Extremely moving…gorgeous.” — New York Post
“Complex and well-drawn characters… America for Beginners has something—or someone—for everyone.” — Washington Times
“The pleasure of this smart, mild-mannered novel is that, through its juxtapositions, the reader, too, begins to see the country afresh.” — Wall Street Journal
“A satisfying, heartfelt novel… Franqui adroitly balances all the characters, making them distinct and refreshing. Readers will be taken by this emotionally rewarding novel.” — Publishers Weekly
“Compassionate and funny, America For Beginners delves into the complications of family as three unlikely companions venture across a country that challenges their understanding of themselves. A charming debut by a fresh new voice.” — Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers
“Franqui deftly juggles her characters’ competing perspectives, mining small moments in the narrative for larger insights into cultural and personal differences… This is a humorous and heartfelt excursion into the promise that America represents, to both natives and immigrants, and an emotional examination of what that promise means in practice — Booklist
“A heartfelt novel about forgiveness and acceptance.” — Real Simple
“Compelling… a strong contemporary story about cross-cultural alliances, the bonds of family and what it means to ‘learn America.’” — USA Today
“It’s everything you would want it to be: funny, heartwarming, sad and illuminating … America for Beginners is absorbing and alive and will make you laugh, cry and think about what it means to belong.”   — Amazon Book Review
“America for Beginners will take you on a truly extraordinary cross-country journey.”  — Hello Giggles
“A funny, feel-good cross-country tale… exactly the kind of story that we could use right now — people of different backgrounds coming together and realizing that they are more similar than assumed.” — AM New York

Leah Franqui is a graduate of Yale University and received an MFA at NYU-Tisch. She is a playwright and the recipient of the 2013 Goldberg Playwriting Award, and also wrote a web series for which she received the Alfred Sloan Foundation Screenwriting award (aftereverafterwebseries.com). A Puerto Rican-Jewish Philadelphia native, Franqui lives with her Kolkata-born husband in Mumbai. AMERICA FOR BEGINNERS is her first novel.