Ravishing

A brilliant and compelling debut, Ravishing shines a light on the dark enticements of the beauty industry and how it capitalizes on our desire to be someone we are not

A provocative, darkly surreal novel of two Indian American siblings caught in the clutches of a beauty tech company, Ravishing is a searing portrait of the beauty industry’s dangerous ability to change people’s relationship to their bodies and the cult-like grip it has on youth.

Like every teenager, Kashmira wants nothing more than to belong. What’s worse, every time she looks in the mirror, she sees the features of the father who abandoned her family, and the grief is reopened. When an old friend introduces her to the wonders of Evolvoir, a personalized beauty product that changes users’ features to give them a “second face,” Kashmira jumps at the chance. Meanwhile, at Evolvoir’s corporate offices, Kashmira’s estranged brother Nikhil is growing steadily disillusioned with the tech world, and is ready to rebel against his employer and create radical change from the inside. But when reports of medical distress in some of the product’s users begin to surface, and Kashmira is suddenly hospitalized with a mysterious illness, Nikhil uncovers the vicious truth about Evolvoir’s proprietary technology and must decide where his loyalty lies.

Razor-sharp and full of heart, Ravishing is a complex coming-of-age story perfect for readers of Gold Diggers and Uncanny Valley. Deftly excavating the experience of living in white spaces, and fearlessly examining the realities of what it means to live with chronic illness, Eshani Surya delivers a piercing novel that asks how much quiet suffering we’ll endure in exchange for beauty, for acceptance, for love.