You Bring the Distant Near

Mitali Perkins draws from her own experiences as an Indian American woman and an immigrant in her fiction, which explores the intersection of culture, identity, and belonging. In You Bring the Distant Near, the author examines the lives of five Bengali women who reflect facets of her own identity. Of the novel’s main characters, the one most similar to the author is Ranee Das’s younger daughter. Perkins confirms, “I am most like Sonia—a bookish introvert who loves to write and read and has wanted to champion the marginalized since I can remember” (“Interview: Mitali Perkins.” Rich in Color, 19 Sept. 2017). Like Perkins, Sonia is born in Kolkata, India, keeps a diary from a young age, and lives in Ghana and London before settling in the United States with her family. The author immigrated to California when she was seven years old, while the fictional character moves to New York at age 15. Sonia shares her creator’s lifelong love of literature, and stories provide both women with a sense of stability during a childhood disrupted by frequent moves. Perkins observes, “My biggest lifeline during those early years was story. Books were my rock, my stability, my safe place as I navigated the border between California suburbia and the Bengali culture of my traditional home” (Perkins, Mitali. “About Me.” Mitali Perkins, 26 Sept. 2023). Sonia expresses a similar sentiment in Chapter 1, which is titled “Home Is Where the Stories Are” (11). Like the author, Sonia has a complex cultural identity and a passion for the written word.

In addition, Sonia Das mirrors Perkins’s spirituality and values. For both, their spiritual seeking is sparked by the unexpected death of someone close to them. When Perkins was 15, a friend of hers was struck and killed by a drunk driver. This prompted her to ask, “How could a loving God allow suffering and evil?” (VanderVeen Feddema, Sonya. “Faith and Writing: An Interview with Mitali Perkins.” Christian Courier, 11 Sept. 2017). During her time at college, Perkins studied abroad in Vienna. Moved by the art in cathedrals and the gospel stories, she decided to become a Christian. Sonia’s conversion from Hinduism to Christianity parallels the author’s. Rather than losing a friend in an accident, Sonia loses her father to a hit-and-run driver. Her moment of conversion also takes place during a trip to Europe, and art plays an important role in her spiritual search. In Paris, Lou’s explanation of Lorenzo Lotto’s Le Christ et la femme adultère helps Sonia see a connection between Jesus’s deeds and her feminism. Like Perkins, Sonia goes on to become a professional writer who promotes her ideals through her work. Sonia’s career as a journalist and an author focuses on women’s rights issues, such as child marriage. Perkins is the author of over a dozen books, and her writing tackles topics connected to equality and justice, including housing inequity, financial precarity, families separated by borders, and human trafficking. By giving Sonia Das experiences parallel to her own, Perkins is able to infuse her novel with realism and her own values.