The Crooked Line (Asian Writers)

Isolated and ignored as she grows up in a large Muslim Indian household in the 1920s, Shamman's spirited nature rebels against her upbringing. Yet while her perception of her expected role in life deepens, she learns from bitter experience to distrust anyone who offers intimacy. But her defence against love cannot last forever.
The Crooked Line is set in a time of great upheaval and transition as India moves from its imperial past to an independent future. It is a richly-layered account of a woman of integrity searching for her place in a new world.