‘Gold Diggers,’ by Sanjena Sathian. (Penguin Random House)
“As I wrote
Gold Diggers, I started to get more empathetic about why some forms of ambition are treated as more legitimate than others. So much of that has to do with safety,” says Sathian.
Gold Diggers highlights the story of Indian American teenagers striving for success and grappling with mediocrity. The main characters, Neil and Anita, begin drinking an alchemic lemonade made with gold to keep pace with the ambitions of their peers and their community.
“I was handed stories about the immigrant experience and lonely nostalgic immigrants who missed the homeland,” says Sathian. “The things I desperately need to see are people like me participating in America. I wanted to write a very American novel.”