Climbing the Stairs

Climbing the Stairs
by Padma Venkatraman

In British-occupied India in 1941, girls don't have many options. Fifteen year old Vidya is an exception. Her father supports her dream of going to college. When tragedy strikes her family, Vidya and her family move into the home of relatives who are members of the strict Brahman class. In this family women live on the first floor and men on the second only mixing at meals when the women serve the men their food. Vidya's only escape from this world is up the stairs to her Grandfather's forbidden library. Climbing the Stairs, is a historical novel about finding oneself in time of political and social turmoil. It is an interesting look at a culture far different from out own.

-Mr. Dale