I enjoyed this book, the setting was lovely, the descriptions grand. The character was a little too unreal without a lot of grounding forces. The conflict at the end a bit forced, expected, and too easily resolved. ( )

Frances Foster books ( )

Parvati’s birth coincides with the day of her father’s tragic death by trampling elephants, the first day of a monsoon that cripples the village for years, and the sudden illness of the Rama’s son. Her aunt and the rest of the villagers regard her with suspicion and resentment. Her differences only isolate her further: she has a way of communicating with animals, staring into people’s eyes as if reading their souls, and a talent for dancing. When she is 9 or 10, a guru of Indian classical dance recognizes Parvati’s talent and asks her mother to let her live and be trained in dance at the gurukulam. It is over a year before Parvati returns home in triumph to perform at the Rama’s palace. While there she meets the son of the Rama and finds they share unique and unexplained differences.

RGG: Set in post-Gandhi India, a story of a young girl's dharma, destiny, to become a devadasi, a master of classical dance. Prose is interesting, plot line is targeted to 10 - 14-year-old girls.

I was very young when I read this book a few years ago - I think I was in grade four. It was probably the first real, good novel I had ever read, and it stuck in my head, popping up at irregular intervals. But life keeps going, we move on, and it started showing up less and less often... until I saw it in my new classroom this morning. I stopped for a second to read the back, and before I even got halfway through I knew I would have to read it again. It is an amazing book, a book about a young girl as she grows up not only struggling with the normal problems we all face as we get older, but with her commitment to her dance and the cursed blessing placed upon her. A beautiful book worth reading.