She published two novels, "Nampally Road" (1991)—which was a Village Voice Literary Supplement Editor's Choice—and "Manhattan Music" (1997), and two academic studies, "The Poetic Self" (1979) and "Women in Romanticism" (1989). "Fault Lines" was chosen by "Publishers Weekly" as one of the best books of the year in 1993. "Illiterate Heart" won the 2002 PEN Open Book Award.