New Here? Read or Listen to Child of the River and then join us on this adventure.
As always, there may be spoilers for chapters 31 through the end of the book in this read along.
Sugandha — Chapter 31
Sugandha, after masquerading as a boy for so long, finds joy in plucking a jasmine from a bush and tucking it into her hair. That heavenly smell of jasmine, nestled in her dark hair like a bright moon against a dark sky, is a picture Sugandha wants to paint, even if only for herself, with no admirers around. Sometimes, absence makes us yearn for things we took for granted. When I work from home and the days blur together, sometimes a little lip gloss goes a long way in lifting my spirits. That is the feeling I wanted to leave with Sugandha.
I liked this metaphor: “Each day, the moon grew like a pregnant woman’s belly.” It seemed apt for the dilemma Sugandha is in. And what do you think of what Sugandha’s grandfather taught her, and what he omitted? There are clues to her past in this chapter, and also to what he was preparing her for. Those answers begin to surface in Curse of the River.
The scene at the river with Sugandha, Parvati, and her husband is one of my favorites in this book. I wanted to showcase how Sugandha’s innocence about the marital bed, and her desperation to survive, come together like the ingredients of a fine Indian dish. Sugandha achieving her goal with no idea of how or why was fantastic to write. I wanted readers, who obviously have more worldly experience than our sixteen-year-old protagonist in medieval India, to understand exactly what is happening, while Sugandha remains entirely clueless. Did I pull it off?
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Anna Bushi 