Letters in the Sand - Hema Macherla
 
Set in the 70s in a small village in India, Letters in the Sand is an engaging story of one girl’s quiet rebellion against her traditional, dysfunctional family and their non-negotiable plans to marry her at fifteen to any suitable boy.
 
‘I was no better than a cow, brushed and groomed, neck and ankles festooned with bells, flowers around its horns to be put on display for someone to choose.’
 
In this layered narrative, the political and the personal are interwoven when Kiri’s beloved brother, Rajiv, runs away to join an extremist group fighting for fair pay and justice, and is caught up in the escalating violence. Against this volatile backdrop, Kiri yearns for an education as the only way to escape a life of subjugation defined by her gender. Can she find the courage to follow a lonely, challenging path to freedom?