Trisha Sakhlecha Wants To Move Narrative To A Contemporary Portrayal Of Indians

India-West Staff Reporter

Trisha Sakhlecha, a New Delhi native, currently divides her time between Berlin and London. A diplomat and director at The Tagore Centre at the Embassy of India, Sakhlecha has a diverse background, including a career in the fashion industry as a business consultant, designer, and trend forecaster. The Inheritance, her debut novel in the U.S., is a murder mystery set within a wealthy Indian family during a reunion on a private island off the coast of Scotland. Sakhlecha discusses her inspiration, process, and the key themes in her novel.

What makes the Agarwals unique?
Beyond the obvious fact that we rarely see ultra-wealthy Indian families represented in commercial fiction, each character in the Agarwal family is shaped by their personal experiences, hopes, and traumas. They reflect the complexity of modern, successful Indians navigating both traditional and contemporary challenges. This gives a truer representation of young, successful Indians living in modern India.

Can you tell us more about your experience on the off-the-grid island and how it influenced the book’s setting?
In 2017, I stayed on a private island off Scotland’s west coast, with no Wi-Fi or cell signal. The isolation and stark beauty of the island gave me a sense of living in a bubble where normal rules didn’t apply. This unique atmosphere became integral to the novel, where the island acts almost as a character itself, reflecting both the warmth and darkness of the family dynamic.

How did writing during the COVID lockdowns influence The Inheritance?
The idea for The Inheritance originated in 2019, but during the COVID lockdowns, I was struck by how people were forced to do terrible things out of love and necessity. As I observed how people made difficult moral choices, my novel shifted from exploring a family’s internal dynamics to questioning the extremes they would go to for one another. The question of loyalty and moral compromise became central to the story.

Zoe, who marries into the Agarwal family, and Myra, who was born into it, narrate the story. How did you draw from your own experiences to write both insider and outsider perspectives?
Having lived in multiple countries and cultures, I often feel like a perpetual outsider. I was born in New Delhi and grew up there, but moved abroad for education and career opportunities. This constant shifting between cultures gives me a unique perspective, which I think helped me write both the insider and outsider experiences authentically. In The Inheritance, Zoe represents the outsider’s view, while Myra embodies the complexities of being deeply embedded in a traditional family.

What parts of Indian culture and heritage did you particularly want to spotlight in The Inheritance?
In the West, Indian stories are often oversimplified or filtered through a colonial lens, whether it’s portraying Indians as struggling immigrants or over-glorifying traditional customs. I wanted to show a more nuanced view of India—one that highlights modern-day India’s complexity, its successes, and the way Indian heritage shapes identity today. Through the Agarwals, I hope to shift the narrative towards a more contemporary, multi-faceted portrayal of Indians.

Family is central to The Inheritance, and the novel explores the tension between family loyalty and personal conscience. Can you talk about how this dynamic plays out in the context of Indian culture?
Family plays a central role in Indian culture, often extending beyond immediate relatives to include a large, interconnected network. This makes family dynamics complex, especially when silence, secrets, and unspoken expectations bind them together. Zoe, coming from a single-parent household, is unprepared for the intense closeness and entanglement of the Agarwals. The novel examines what happens when loyalty to family clashes with moral integrity, and how, in cultures like India’s, family bonds can sometimes stifle personal conscience.

What do you hope readers take away from The Inheritance?
I hope the novel encourages readers to reflect on the moral dilemmas the characters face: when the stakes are impossibly high, what do you choose—your family or your conscience? I believe this universal question transcends cultural boundaries and invites readers to consider how far they would go to protect their loved ones.

THE INHERITANCE, Pamela Dorman Books/Viking; On sale: January 21, 2025