Author: Ameeta Rathore
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 175
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143027875
Description
A haunting tale of generational echoes and social change in mid-twentieth-century Bihar. Set against a backdrop of feudal decline, this tender novel finds the complications in quiet lives, and the love that slips through even the most determined hatred.
Orphaned by death and discord, Ila spends her childhood on her grandfather's Kosi River estate, inhaling the soaking jute and savoring 'the sheer delight of wastage and abundance' as the Zamindari draws its last breath.
Her bright world fades to black when her estranged father sues for guardianship. Tiny and terrified, Ila is sent to Patna to live with a parent she has never known - and enters a reign of terror, her father bent on "reforming" her to avenge his expulsion by her mother. Forbidden to read the books she loves, forced to ear dowdy clothes and shushed at every turn, Ila dreams of escape. Yet when she finally has a change, her choice is surprisingly difficult.