Liz Matney reminisces about when she first went back to India in 2022., “We went back to India to connect with our roots –those roots in our family that have blessed and sustained us, and to be part of that. I wanted my kids to see glimpses of the India I remembered.”
Her kids were born in India and spent their first 4-5 years growing up close to family before they moved to what Liz describes in her book as, “a Colorado home tucked into the stillness of alpine beauty [Parker, Colorado],” After the pandemic, Liz wanted to find their home and roots once more, but what they experienced was a changing landscape and isolating exile. She writes of this experience in her first memoir, Home in Exile.
“The India I grew up in is very different from now. I remember an India where my grandfather was a pastor. He could sit under the tamarind trees in his garden with a cup of chai in his hand and have a warm conversation with another gentleman with a cup of chai in his hand, who’s talking about his Sanskrit Hindu scriptures with a Tilak on his forehead. And this pastor and Brahman priest could still call each other Bhai, which is the Hindi word for brotherhood.”
In her novel, she explains that things are changing, "There are things we need to process and be honest about. That's what this book feels like, like a step in the right direction."
Through poetic prose and depth, Liz writes about the beauty of her roots in India and its identity crisis that is shaping a new and dangerous landscape. She shares about her own experience of having to go into hiding and her family being marginalized and treated like criminals for their faith.
Even with such a heavy message, though, Liz is warm and kind. As we sit across from each other at Fika, she shares, “Parker has become more home now [since I’ve returned]. The whole Parker community has done such an amazing job of helping our family develop deeper roots.”
Her memoir is the beginning of awareness and renewal, of finding home, healing and fighting for what is sacred.
www.lizmatney.com