Synopses & Reviews
It is 1554 in the desert of Rajasthan, and a new Mughal emperor is expanding his territory. On a rare night of rain, a daughter, Adhira, is born to a family of Hindu temple dancers. Fearing a bleak future, her father--against his wife and sons' protests--puts his faith in tradition and in his last child for each to save the other: he insists Adhira "marry" the temple deity and give herself to a wealthy patron. But after one terrible evening, she makes a bold choice that carries her family's story and their dance to a startling new beginning. Told from the perspective of this exquisite dancer and filled with the sounds, sights and flavors of the Indian desert, Faint Promise of Rain is the story of a family and a girl caught between art, duty, and fear in a changing world.
Review
"Powerful and beautiful, Anjali Mitter Duva's Faint Promise of Rain deftly balances faith and passion, fear and hope, destiny and will. Duva's expert eye takes us to 16th century India where dance calls forth the divine and unforgettable characters give us 'memories of things to come.' Past, present, and future all overlap in a perfect timeless story." --Marjan Kamali, author of Together Tea
Review
"A compelling story of loss and valor that takes readers on an unexpected journey to the secret world of temple dancers in ancient India." --Shona Patel, author of Teatime for the Firefly
Review
"FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN is a gorgeous book, a story that is at once spare and lush, wrenching and restoring. The characters are so fully realized, so keenly nuanced, that they linger with you long after the last page, like the sweet smell of a recent storm." Bret Anthony Johnston, author of Remember Me Like This and Director of Creative Writing at Harvard University
Review
"Faint Promise of Rain gives an atmospheric, compassionate look into the hidden world of a temple dancer's family. Anjali Mitter Duva had me spellbound throughout this suspenseful coming of age novel that delivers a rich, satisfying ending." Sujata Massey, author of The Sleeping Dictionary
Synopsis
Shortlisted for the 2016 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing It is 1554 in the desert of Rajasthan, and a new Mughal emperor is expanding his territory. On a rare night of rain, a daughter, Adhira, is born to a family of Hindu temple dancers. Fearing a bleak future, her father--against his wife and sons' protests--puts his faith in tradition and in his last child for each to save the other: he insists Adhira "marry" the temple deity and give herself to a wealthy patron. But after one terrible evening, she makes a bold choice that carries her family's story and their dance to a startling new beginning. Told from the perspective of this exquisite dancer and filled with the sounds, sights and flavors of the Indian desert, Faint Promise of Rain is the story of a family and a girl caught between art, duty, and fear in a changing world.
Synopsis
• Author is co-founder of an active non-profit dedicated to Indian classical dance, and, through this organization, has access to a network of over 800 students and their families, all of whom are invested in traditional Indian arts and able to help promote the book. • Author is an experienced dance teacher who plans to hold book/performance events, dance workshops, speaking events on Indian classical dance, history, and storytelling at private homes, cultural centers, cultural festivals, community centers, etc. • Outreach to academic departments, dance studios (over 50 Indian dance studios and organizations in New England alone), travel agencies with India packages and others. • Outreach and partnership with non-profits dedicated to women's rights, girls' education, preservation of traditional arts, South Asia and others. • Targeting special interest blogs that relate to the subject matter (i.e. book reviews, Indian culture/history, dance, mother/daughter/women's issue...) as well as other media and non-media affiliated sites (i.e. Huffington Post, Slate, Salon...) • 10 radio interviews with nationally syndicated and local radio stations. • Targeting book club appearances combining dance with readings. • 65 review copies being distributed to editorial reviewers and bloggers. • Targeting visits to areas with large Indian American population and/or strong literary/arts culture and/or academic centers such as: Chicago area; NY (Queens); NJ (Edison and Jersey City); California (Cupertino, Freemont, San Francisco, etc.); Texas (Austin, Plano, Houston); PA (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh); as well as cities/towns throughout Massachusetts. • Potential for book/performance events, development of a soundtrack; strong visual and auditory component that lends potential for film, podcasts.
About the Author
Anjali Mitter Duva is a writer who grew up in France and has family roots in Calcutta. She is a co-founder of Chhandika, an organization that teaches and presents India's classical kathak dance. Anjali graduated from Brown University and completed her Master's in city planning at MIT. She lives near Boston with her husband and two daughters. FAINT PROMISE OF RAIN is Anjali's first novel. She is working on the second, set in 19th-century Lucknow.