Fresh and provocative, the twelve stories in The Confines by Anu Kandikuppa deliver us into the cultural expectations, hierarchies, and taboos that define and limit our lives, especially the lives of women. A man's seemingly innocent gesture at a party unravels buried tensions in a marriage. A grieving doctor chronicles the peculiar ailments of an elderly couple yearning for their absent son. A young woman wrestles with her unrequited attraction to a colleague. Set in India and the U.S., these elegant and rare stories explore love, loss, and resilience, uncovering the compromises and hopes that shape our search for happiness.

PRAISE FOR THE CONFINES

The sharp-edged stories in this smart and original collection are characterized by memorable girls and women whose desperation not to let life get the best of them is palpable; I read each of these psychologically complex portraits with my breath caught in my throat. An impressive debut.
— Vauhini Vara, author of The Immortal King Rao and This Is Salvaged

From the first very captivating, subtly funny story, Anu Kandikuppa writes engrossing, thoughtful fiction that delves below the surface of "model Minority" lives. Reminiscent of Anne Tyler's lovably maladjusted married couples, Kandikuppa uses a compassionate and irreverent view of marriage to illuminate Indian diaspora. You will enjoy this book.

—Chaya Bhuvaneswar, PEN/Bingham finalist author of White Dancing Elephants: Stories

Inviting, expansive, and prismatic, Anu Kandikuppa's The Confines is anything but limited. Her sharply observed stories unfold in ever-surprising directions as her characters strain against the narrowness of their lives and their marriages. A nuanced portrait of women navigating old constraints and fresh expectations, The Confines introduces a voice whose promise and powers are vast. 

—Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, Author of Madeleine Is Sleeping, Ms. Hempel Chronicles, and Likes.

Anu Kandikuppa writes with glorious precision about unhappy marriages and the quiet desperation of middle-class life in America and India. In one of these darkly comic stories, we see a man's attachment to his wife: "He felt awed by her intellect, energized by her discontent." The brilliant gloom of The Confines thrilled me. Read this collection to behold a marvelous literary alchemy—the characters' gripes become gems. Their loneliness keeps us company, and their dissatisfaction transforms into our delight.

—Polly Rosenwaike, Author of Look How Happy I'm Making You

An infinitely compelling collection of stories that captures the small gestures and tectonic shifts in families and communities. Throughout The Confines, Anu Kandikuppa observes detail with precision and with a sly ironic wit. The worlds around her characters shimmer with a longing for connection, affection, and a place that genuinely feels like home.  What a lovely book this is! 

—David Haynes, author of Martha’s Daughter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anu Kandikuppa (she/her) has worked as an engineer, a software developer, and an economics consultant. The social structures of South Indian families among which she grew up inform the stories in The Confines, her first book. Kandikuppa’s fiction and essays have appeared in Colorado Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, New England Review, The Cincinnati Review, Story, and other journals. Her work has thrice received special mention in the Pushcart Prize anthologies and has also been recognized by fellowships and residencies by the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and The Ragdale Foundation. In 2024, she received a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant for Creative Individuals. Kandikuppa holds a Ph.D. in Finance and an MFA in Writing from Warren Wilson College. She lives outside Boston. The Confines is Kandikuppa’s debut collection.