Housesitting: a Novel

Abstract

A thesis submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (fiction), this novel excerpt follows a young Indian-American woman through a series of back-to-back housesitting gigs in New York City, as well as through a tumultuous romantic entanglement with an older couple who are in a polyamorous relationship. The novel is structured around the homes and apartments the protagonist situates herself within as she experiences a coming-of-age. This project concerns itself with the intimacy of place, immigration and identity, the ethics of romantic relationships, and shifting power dynamics within relationships of all kind—platonic, romantic, and familial.