Author Description

The first dead body that twelve-year-old Geeta sees is her beloved brother Jai, his face as blue as the sea that took him. Even as she grieves, her father promises her in marriage to a drunkard fisherman three times her age. Geeta's Godmother, revered Wisdom Woman whisks her to safety within the walls of Tanjore temple, famous for its Devadasi dancers. Here Geeta hopes to pursue her life-long dream to dance. Her bungalow mate, Vani, privileged and haughty, shows Geeta another world, sharing joys, sorrows, and everybody's secrets. But while the temple is a reprieve from her former life and a place of exquisite beauty, she soon discovers life there is steeped in secrets and shadowed by danger. Inspired by true events, this is a story of female empowerment, unfolding with a sense of foreboding; yet nothing prepares you for what lies at the heart of it.