Married as a child bride to Nathan, a tenant farmer she had never met, Rukmani works side by side in the fields with her husband to wrest a living from a land ravaged by droughts, monsoons, and insects. With fortitude and courage, she fights poverty and disaster. Written over 70 years ago, Nectar in a Sieve is as relevant now as when it was first published. The story of Rukmani and Nathan is the story of many Indian farmers yesterday and today....

"Layla Roy has defied the fates. Despite being born under an inauspicious horoscope, she is raised to be educated and independent by her eccentric grandfather, Dadamoshai. And by cleverly manipulating the hand fortune has dealt her, she has even found love with Manik Deb--a man betrothed to another. All were minor miracles in India that spring of 1943, when young women's lives were predetermined--if not by the stars, then by centuries of family tradition...

Delhi, 1946. Fourteen-year-old Alma is soon to be married despite her parents' fear that she is far too young. But times are perilous in India, where the country's long-awaited independence from the British empire heralds a new era of hope--and danger. In its wake, political unrest ripples across the subcontinent, marked by violent confrontations between Hindus and Muslims. The conflict threatens to unravel the rich tapestry of Delhi--a city where...