Have you ever lost a friend? It can hurt as much as losing a lover. This is the case with Poornima and Savitha, two girls from an extremely poor Indian village. Their lives are filled with obstacles: it's difficult for them to find enough food to eat, they never have enough money, they both have challenges with their families and everyday living is mainly about survival. So when their lives intersect and they become friends via Poornima's father's weaving business, their friendship becomes the only bright beacon in an otherwise dark world.
Poornima has a bit of a rebellious streak and all she wants is to be near Savitha. After thwarting a few marriage proposals that threatened to move her away from her village (where Savitha would have to remain, as she has other sisters whose dowries needed to be saved up for first) and further upsetting her already fragile relationship with her father, Poornima is finally set to be wed via an arranged marriage to a man she doesn't meet until her wedding day. Savitha, excited that her dearest friend will be in a relationship where she'll be able to remain near the village, decides to dedicate any extra hours she has to making Poornima a special wedding sari. After finally having something positive to latch onto as things finally begin to work out for them, both girls are feeling fairly optimistic about the future. But just before the wedding is to take place, a darkly tragic event takes place, forcing Savitha to flee. Poornima is heartbroken. As she slept, her life was completely turned upside down. She went to sleep with her friend there and woke up to an emptiness unlike anything she'd felt before.
Poornima has no choice but to go ahead with the marriage, but her thoughts are overtaken by the loss of her friend. Meanwhile, Savitha, in absolute poverty yet feeling she had no choice but to escape, disappears out into the world. The next few years are spent following the two girls as they continue their daily existence, all the while never forgetting each other. Poornima relies on her memories; Savitha carries around the half-finished sari. Both girls experience insurmountable grief for the loss of the other. But finding their way back to each other seems utterly impossible when stacked up against all of the things that already exist to challenge them: no money, no means, no idea of each others' whereabouts, language barriers, dead-ends...not to mention all of the new cruel obstacles they don't even know about.
How do you find someone who could literally be anywhere out there in the world? How do you go on when you've lost the one and only person who means the world to you? Can you overcome your vulnerabilities when you're poor, uneducated and seen as less-than in the world? This book is a gripping examination of all of these things. It's a book about trying to overcome the impossible when you have no one but yourself and the love for another person to keep you moving forward.
Judge the cover: 5/5
