And in the dark, wet orchard, lit by a host of glittering fireflies, Sharda stands, with her sister beside her. Ambushed by the aromas of the rain-embellished earth and the moist, syrupy sugar cane, they watch their children and listen to their mirth spilling over to join the cricket choir—the blissful choral cicada peace.
LETTER FROM RENITA
First of all, I want to say a huge thank you for choosing A Sister’s Promise, I hope you enjoyed reading Puja and Sharda’s story just as much as I loved writing it.
If you did enjoy it, I would be forever grateful if you’d write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it can also help other readers discover one of my books for the first time.
Also, if you’d like to keep up-to-date with all my latest releases, just sign up here:
www.renitadsilva.com/e-mail-sign-up
Finally, if you liked A Sister’s Promise, you might also like my other novels, Monsoon Memories and The Forgotten Daughter and The Stolen Girl.
Thank you so much for your support – until next time.
Renita.
@RenitaDSilva
RenitaDSilvaBooks
www.renitadsilva.comPuja
ALSO BY RENITA D’SILVA
Monsoon Memories
The Forgotten Daughter
The Stolen Girl
A Sister’s Promise
AUTHOR’S NOTE
This is wholly a work of fiction. I have imagined what might happen in a claustrophobic little village in India. This imaginary village is a combination of various villages from different parts of India and the place where I have set it may not have a village like the one I have described. I wanted to highlight some of the problems villagers face, but also wanted to base it in a setting that is close to my heart. Hence, the villages described in this book are an amalgamation of villages from different states in India where many of the issues that Kushi raises in her letter abound, perhaps not all in one village but at least one in most villages (although not necessarily in the villages in Karnataka where I have set this story).
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For ease of reading, I have referred to Bengaluru as Bangalore except in reference to the airport, and to Bombay as Mumbai throughout, even though while Puja was travelling there it would still have been called Bombay.
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PUC is the acronym for Pre-University Course.
* * *
When Sharda talks of pursuing medicine after her stellar performance in the Second PUC exam, I have not mentioned the Common Entrance test (CET), tacitly assuming that Sharda would have taken it. The CET needs to be taken in conjunction with the PUC exam to gain a medical/engineering place.
* * *
The CET seat allocation scam that Kushi mentions in her letter is entirely fictitious, a product of my imagination.
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In Kushi’s letter, she says, ‘The only people assured good futures are those who have enough money to buy their way in.’ While this is true to some extent, it is not entirely true all the time.
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I apologise for any oversights or mistakes and hope they do not detract from your enjoyment of this book.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank everyone at Bookouture for their continued belief in me. Especial thanks to Oliver Rhodes for his advice and support, and also for the title. Thank you to Kim Nash who is absolutely lovely and the best person ever to have championing my books.
Huge thanks to Lorella Belli of Lorella Belli Literary Agency for all her brilliant efforts in making my books go places.
A big thank you to Jenny Hutton who is the BEST editor once could wish for and who knows just what needs to be done to make my stories the best they can be.
Thank you to Lydia Newhouse for her wonderful and insightful comments and to Nichola Lewis for her amazing eye for detail.
Thank you to all my lovely fellow Bookouture authors and to all the fabulous book bloggers and twitter/fb friends for their enthusiastic and overwhelming support.
Thank you to Suresh Babu, Amber Pinto and Rupal Menezes for their knowledge, time and patience in answering all my medical queries.
Thank you to my lovely friend Judy Nappa for all her support.
Thank you to my lovely sister-in-law Levin D’Souza and to our mutual friend Gomathy Paramasivan; my amazing neighbours, the McKays and the superb Tristan Barnett for their time and tolerance in answering all of my many questions.
A huge thank you to my mum, Perdita Hilda D’Silva, who is always there to talk things through, calming me down and making me laugh. Thank you also to my aunt, Lucy Pinto and my dad, Cyril D’Silva for their prayers.
I am immensely grateful to my long-suffering family for willingly sharing me with characters that live only in my head and for accepting that half the time I am but a shell, physically present but that’s about all. My daughter voiced what they were all thinking when she said, after having kept her counsel for as long as she possibly could: ‘Mum, which character are you talking to now!’ Love always.
Thank you, as ever, to you, reader. In the words of Samuel Johnson: ‘A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.’ Thank you for choosing to finish A Sister’s Promise.
Published by Bookouture
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An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
23 Sussex Road, Ickenham, UB10 8PN
United Kingdom
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www.bookouture.com
* * *
Copyright © Renita D’Silva 2015
* * *
Renita D’Silva has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
* * *
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
* * *
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-910751-13-8
Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
Kushi
Kushi
Raj
Sharda
Puja
Sharda
Puja
Raj
Kushi
Sharda—Childhood
Raj
Puja—Childhood
Kushi
Sharda—Childhood
Raj
Puja—Childhood
Kushi
Sharda—Cusp
Raj
Puja—Cusp
Kushi
Sharda—Fissure
Raj
Puja—Fissure
Kushi
Sharda—Fissure
Raj
Puja—Fissure
Kushi
Sharda—Chasm
Raj
Puja—Chasm
Kushi
Sharda—Chasm
Raj
Puja—Chasm
Kushi
Sharda—After
Kushi
Raj
Puja—After
Raj
Kushi
Sharda—Now
Puja—Now
Kushi
Puja—Now
Sharda—Now
Raj
Kushi
Epilogue
Letter from Renita
Also by Renita D’Silva
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Copyright
oks on Archive.
A Sister's Promise Page 30
