“Bhuvaneswar’s debut story collection, already eliciting praise from the likes of Lauren Groff and Jeff VanderMeer, explores urgent themes of sexual harassment and racial violence through a poetic lens, exploring a cast of marginalized characters and infusing them with bracing life.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Chaya Bhuvaneswar proves to be an evocative new voice in feminist fiction…The stories are really brilliant. They’re breathtaking in a way that forces me to pause between each one and just sit with the endings for a bit.”
—Elle

“(T)he biggest surprise in White Dancing Elephants is its core of hope and compassion. From two women having an affair that puts them in danger, to a slave in Renaissance Portugal who learns that sacrifice is sometimes the only way to save what we love, this collection is full of anguish, yet packed with optimism and courage. Bhuvaneswar is unflinching about the lives of those for whom identity is a constant battle and the act of being is an unavoidable challenge, but she doesn’t ignore the beauty in their strength…White Dancing Elephants is a necessary book — and one that introduces a gifted voice to contemporary literature.”
—National Public Radio (NPR)

“[A] pleasingly devious streak, at times reminiscent of Patricia Highsmith, winds through the collection, offsetting the latent melodrama. Shocking late twists and disclosures furnish a sense of unpredictability … [A] compulsively readable debut.”
—Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

“How free is anyone, driven as we are by impulses deeper than thought, moving through inextricably connected societies? This debut author has created a host of original scenarios through which to probe this vital question—a question that’s both a long-running conversation between East and West and one of the intractable problems of the human condition.”
—Los Angeles Times

“Chaya Bhuvaneswar is a *force* in her provocative debut short story collection White Dancing Elephants. These stories center on women of color who resist easy categorization — a therapist who is drawn to but disgusted by her young patient, a scholar desperate to justify her affair with her terminally ill best friend’s husband, a woman remembering the girlfriend she abandoned when she accepted her arranged marriage. Bhuvaneswar fully inhabits them, breathing life into their dissonant, beautiful, complete selves. Reading it is a thrill, sure to leave you breathless.”
—Buzzfeed

“Chaya Bhuvaneswar’s debut collection maps with great assurance the intricate outer reaches of the human heart. What a bold, smart, exciting new voice, well worth listening to; what an elegant story collection to read and savor…”
—Lauren Groff, author of Florida

“In this evocative debut short-story collection, Bhuvaneswar pulls readers deep into the psyches of women who are vulnerable and lost, dangerous and clever: a woman clinging to denial over her miscarriage, an artist with schizophrenia, two women in a doomed love affair.”
—Huffington Post

“Consider Bhuvaneswar one of the most original feminist voices in literature—you need to add this short story collection to your cart stat.”
—My Domaine

“You can’t miss this bold debut short story collection, which spotlights queer, religious, and immigrant stories about a diverse array of women all over the world. From a South Asian scholar trying to justify her affair with her terminally ill best friend’s husband, to a woman who is haunted by Buddha’s birth as she grieves a miscarriage, each one of these stories will reach deep into your heart.”
—Bustle (Best 11 Books of October)

“Read White Dancing Elephants. Short stories, enduring issues. Women both endure violence and wield it against one another in Chaya Bhuvaneswar’s debut collection of 17 stories about sexual harassment, a therapist obsessed with her new client, mourning a miscarriage, and more.”
—Vulture (Best books chosen by Novelists; Best Fall Books; What to do Sept 30-Oct 15)

“Debut Winner of the Dzanc Books Short Story Collection Prize, this volume proves its worth from the start with an affecting piece about a woman wandering about London, having just lost the baby she was carrying. From exploited orphans in India and slaves in Renaissance Portugal to Jagatishwaran (“lord of worlds”), trapped in a corner room by mental illness and parental concern but looking outward, and a young boy wondering of his vanished sister “Where did go? But also: How do I bear it, that she left for good?” even as he reads the fable of a woman bargaining with Death over the husband he sent her, imagination is key. Yet the stories remain firmly grounded in physical detail, boldly exploring moments of oppression and violence, and Bhuvaneswar’s persuasive, readable style will keep readers absorbed. VERDICT A strong collection from a writer on the rise.”
—Library Journal

“Bhuvaneswar’s compelling stories portray diverse characters grappling with shifts in their lives, the complications of their actions, and the impacts of others…a striking collection.”
—Booklist

“Similar to Zadie Smith’s work in the richness of the writing, the way that entire lives are portrayed within the pages of a short story.”
-Drunken Books podcast

“[These are stories of] intricate characters who fight back against narratives that limit their existence, natural circumstances or human-made, from birth and death and disease to racism, classicism, and sexism, shuffling together ancient fables with realistic contemporary fiction and a dystopia with robots.”
–The Millions

“Whether she’s writing about characters grappling with their own mortality and that of the people closest to them or veering into more fantastical realms, Bhuvaneswar roots her work in recognizable (and often wrenching) emotion, making for powerful and compelling fiction.”
-Vol 1. Brooklyn

“Bhuvaneswar tackles the intricate interactions of race, class, and sexuality in this enticing debut… The political charge of each relationship is reinforced by Bhuvaneswar’s articulation of the simmering drama created by them…The collection is sharp and provocative, and Bhuvaneswar’s voice rings true.”
—Publishers Weekly
[ Read the full review ]

“The 17 stories in this debut collection take place around the world, exploring queer and interracial love, extramarital affairs, and grief over the disappearances of loved ones. The book provocatively probes the aftermath—the aftermath of death, of grim diagnoses, of abandonment, of monumental errors in judgment. Passages jump back and forth in time to dissect how the consequences of a fraught event shape and unravel the lives of innocent casualties….An exuberant collection.”
—Kirkus *STARRED REVIEW*
[ Read the full review ]

“Deft and timely stories of women in Chaya Bhuvaneswar’s debut title…Bhuvaneswar is sure-handed as her stories toggle boldly between form. She is as deft at building tension in the ultimately explosive ‘A Shaker Chair,’ about the fraught relationship between a psychiatrist and her patient, as she is at building a sort of hypnotic world in the quietly affecting ‘Jagatishwaran.’”
—San Francisco Chronicle

“(An) enthralling, vivid debut collection from writer and physician Chaya Bhuvaneswar. The stories span centuries, from Renaissance Portugal to present-day India, and provide powerful glimpses into experiences of grief, violence, and betrayal.”
—Southern Living

“A collection of gripping short stories featuring a diverse range of women of color, in tales that are clever and thought-provoking.”
—New York Post (Required Reading: The Best Books of the Week)

“Sometimes funny, always smart and honest, Chaya Bhuvaneswar’s stories hold the reader, even as the painful truths of human lives break through.”
—New York Journal of Books

“If your book club is interested in picking up a book of short stories this month, we suggest White Dancing Elephants by Chaya Bhuvaneswar. Racial identity plays a large role in these stories, as does socioeconomic class, meaning your book club will have lots of thought-provoking material to discuss. In one story, a therapist experiences conflicted feelings about one of her clients, an Indian woman, and grapples with that. In another, a woman sleeps with the husband of her dying best friend, and becomes pregnant with his child. These tales span the globe from India to Portugal, and feature characters from many different walks of life interacting with one another. The result is an engaging collection we know you’ll enjoy.”
—Bookish

“White Dancing Elephants, the debut short story collection from Chaya Bhuvaneswar, is a rich and lovely look at the diversity of love — romantic, familial and love of self. Run through with threads of the mythic and with more than a nod to Indian literary and religious images, the stories here are still very realistic, exploring relationships, interior lives and expectations. Bhuvaneswar’s characters, mostly women, struggle against social norms, cultural rules, and their desires and better judgements.”
—Book Reporter

“Can’t miss story collection…deserving prime placement on your shelf!”
—Harper’s Bazaar

“In White Dancing Elephants, Chaya Bhuvaneswar makes the #MeToo stories of women of color sing. Her lyrical prose is pure poetry.”
—Hello Giggles