You certainly took your time to show up. Year after year; we waited; your father and I; nerves jangling I never gave up on you; I want you to know that. In the last year I sensed that your father had given up and I tried to tell him not to but he was already drifting away from me and nothing I said seemed to make a difference anymore. Rebirth is the story of Kaberi; a young woman coming to grips with an uncertain marriage. It is also an intimate portrait of the passionate bond between a mother and her unborn child. Moving between Bangalore and Guwahati the novel weaves together Kaberi s inner and outer worlds as she negotiates the treacherous waters of betrayal and loss an unfaithful husband; a troubled relationship with her parents and the death of a childhood friend. With characteristic restraint and disarming honesty Jahnavi Barua lays bare the disquieting predicaments of contemporary urban life and reveals the timeless and redemptive power of love; friendship and self-renewal.