A Life Less Ordinary

I usually read book reviews and never read the books. I plan to read this when it's distributed in the US. If you can't wait, I've added a link, so you can skip across "the pond" and grab it. Or you can watch Born into Brothels, and get those wheels of change turning in your head.

NEW DELHI, Aug. 1

Abandoned by her mother at 4, married off at 12 to an abusive husband, a mother herself at 13 — there is little in Baby Halder’s traumatic childhood to suggest that she would become an emerging star on India’s literary horizon.

Hailed by Delhi’s literary elite as a groundbreaking work, “A Life Less Ordinary” has also found readers among women who have shared Ms. Halder’s difficulties.

“This is not a book that can be read and tossed aside. It raises questions about the fate of the millions of domestic workers in our country and their ill treatment,” a review in the newspaper The Hindu concluded. “Truly this is a story of courage under fire.” It also illustrates how Indian society treats women who leave their husbands, stigmatizing them and pushing them to the margins of existence.