HREE SISTERS. THEIR UNBREAKABLE BOND. AND A NATION ABOUT TO BE BORN.

Here is a river...

Here is a village...

Here is a grand old mansion...

Here is the country that contains them all...

India. August, 1946. Everything is about to change.

Priya, Jamini and Deepa, Dr Nabakumar Ganguly's daughters, live in Ranipur, Bengal, safe from the rising turbulence in the country. When their father is killed on Direct Action Day, their world turns upside-down.

Priya, the youngest, intelligent and idealistic, is determined to follow in her father's footsteps and become a doctor, no matter how difficult. She is fortunate to have the support of zamindar Somnath Chowdhury, her father's best friend. Jamini, devout, dutiful and talented, helps her mother stitch kanthas to make ends meet. Hungering for affection even as she is resentful of her sisters, she nurses a secret desire. Beautiful Deepa, the eldest, all set to marry well, falls in love with Raza, Youth Leader at the Muslim League, and must face the consequences.

When India is partitioned, the sisters find themselves separated from one another, afraid of what will happen to not only themselves, but also each other. It is only then that they understand what it means to be independent, and the price one has to pay for it.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's powerful new novel is a moving story of loyalty and love, nationhood and sisterhood, set against India's independence movement, at once exhilarating and devastating.

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is an awardwinning writer,activist, professor and speaker, and the author of twentyone books such asThe Palace of Illusions, The Forest of Enchantments, The Last Queen and Independence. Her work has been published in over a hundred magazines and anthologies, translated into thirty languages, made into films, plays and dance dramas, and performed as operas. Her awards include an American Book Award, a PEN Josephine Miles Award, a Premio Scanno and a Light of India Award. In 2015 the Economic Times included her in their list of the 20 Most Influential Global Indian Women.She is the McDavid Professor of Creative Writing in the internationally acclaimed Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston and lives in Houston with her husband Murthy.