Trail of Broken Wings

Sejal Badani’s Trail of Broken Wings is a literary fiction novel published in 2015. It details the story of three sisters who come together to confront a painful past after their father falls into a coma. The novel deals with long-buried secrets, the aftermath of abuse, and the power of speaking the truth. Sejal Badani is an Indian American writer who left her law career to pursue writing full-time. Trail of Broken Wings is her first novel.

The book opens when Sonya, an Indian American photographer, reluctantly returns to the family she thought she’d left behind for good. Her father, Brent, has unexpectedly fallen into a coma. Sonya left home and family after graduating from college and had cut ties for many years. This was her escape from the years of abuse and torment she suffered at her father’s hands. By returning, she knows she must confront her past.

Badani switches perspectives and time periods throughout the book. Sonya’s chapters are narrated in the first person, while chapters about her mother and sisters are told in the third person, distancing them from the reader. The story sometimes moves back to the girls’ early childhoods in India, before their father’s abuse began, and to their later childhoods, when he terrorized the family.



Sonya’s sisters are not like her. Her youngest sister, Trisha, was her father’s favorite. He never beat her as he did her sisters. She mourns Brent as he lies in his coma in a way her sisters do not. She remembers their abuse, but has difficulty acknowledging the different facets of their father. Trisha is also the family beauty and has enjoyed a privileged existence. As an adult, she has built a life with a successful man, her husband Eric, and enjoys the benefits of wealth.

Marin, the oldest of the sisters, channeled her feelings about her father and his abuse into ambition. She secretly hoped that by becoming successful, she would somehow win the approval he denied her. Marin shuts herself off from her emotions and the memories of her past. She has built a successful career, but it hasn’t brought her healing or comfort. Now, Marin has a teenage daughter of her own, Gia. She is harsh and strict with Gia, trying to push her towards perfection. She is cold and standoffish with her husband Raj, unable to let him in or tell him about the abuse she lived with as a child.

Sonya takes a temp job at the hospital teaching art therapy to patients while she stays with her family. Her relationships with her sisters and mother are strained; they are hurt that she has stayed away so long. The family seems to unite around Brent in his hospital bed in a show of their love for him. The truth is that they are all finding the courage to confront their pasts and their memories.



Sonya’s mother, Ranee, feels guilt for not protecting her daughters from their father. She was aware of the abuse but was forced to do what she could to protect herself. It wasn’t enough to save her daughters. She stayed with Brent through everything, but it is hinted she’s harboring a secret about her life and his health.

The novel also reveals more of Brent: when he moved the family to America, he faced racism and bullying himself. The transition was a shocking one for him, and the treatment he received was unbearably demeaning. He vented his anger and frustration on his family: this is the point when he became an abuser.

Marin learns that Gia’s boyfriend has beaten her. At first, she accepts the abuse: her father beat her, so the behavior feels normal. But her reaction causes a rift in her family. Raj prepares to leave her, and Gia says she wants to go with him. Finally, Marin is forced to confront the truth of her past and admit that her father’s treatment was not normal. She begins to tear down her emotional barriers and talks to Gia, revealing the truth about her childhood.



Meanwhile, Trisha’s life has not been as perfect as it seems. While she and Eric have longed talked of starting a family, Trisha has harbored private doubts and reluctance. Although she has trouble reconciling the father who showered her with affection with the man her sisters remember, Trisha knows deep down that he was abusive, and fears raising a child of her own for that reason. She secretly takes birth control pills, so she will not get pregnant. Eric discovers the truth and decides to leave her.

When Eric leaves, Trisha finally remembers what she has been burying all these years: her father did not physically abuse her, but he raped her when she was in her teens. She blocked out the memory and has been in denial ever since. Devastated, Trisha reaches out to Eric, telling him the truth. They reconcile and agree to go to therapy together.

Sonya develops a friendship with Brent’s doctor, David, that quickly begins to turn into romance. Sonya, like her sisters, fears getting too close to anyone. Eventually, she admits what she believes is a shameful secret: she is addicted to a certain type of pornography, the type where men beat women. She believes this is a sign of how damaged and broken she is. But when she reveals this to David, he is supportive.



Ranee also reveals her secret: Brent is in a coma because she had been slowly poisoning him for months in revenge. She hoped that if she disposed of him, Sonya would come home and reconnect with the rest of the family. Ranee had once told Sonya she wasn’t wanted. Now, she tells Sonya that she lied: she only said that so Sonya would leave and find a better life. She tells Sonya everything, hoping that it will help her overcome her reluctance to enter a relationship with David, and says her actions were motivated by love. Sonya and David decide to destroy the evidence of what Ranee has done. Finally, Sonya decides to give David—and love—a chance.

The book was popular among readers. One reviewer called the story a “realistic and difficult portrayal of lives in the aftermath of abuse.” Trail of Broken Wings was a Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction in 2015.