NEW BOOK: Karma
Click on any image below to see an enlarged version.
More about Karma:
Author’s Travels Through India in 1984
Why the story of Karma is told in verse
How the character of Maya originated
KARMA— A Verse Novel by Cathy Ostlere
Published by PENGUIN GROUP/PUFFIN Canada and RAZORBILL U.S.
Coming MARCH 2011
Razorbill/U.S. ISBN-13: 978-15951433
Puffin Canada ISBN-13: 978-0670064526
On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi is gunned down by two Sikh bodyguards. The murder sparks riots in Delhi and for three days Sikh families are targeted and killed in retribution for the Prime Minister’s death. It is into this chaos that fifteen-year-old Maya and her Sikh father, Amar, arrive from their home in Canada. India’s political instability is the backdrop and catalyst for Maya’s awakening to the world. KARMA is the story of how a young woman, straddling two cultures and enduring personal loss, learns forgiveness, acceptance and love.
Excerpt from Karma
A brand-new diary
How to begin.
Click.
How. To. Begin.
Click. Click. Click.
I like the sound of a ballpoint pen.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
I’ll start with the date:
October 27, 1984.
Now the place:
Floating in air over ice.
Thirty-seven thousand feet, the pilot said.
But where exactly?
What latitude and longitude?
Is it Canada or Greenland
that fell away like a great sinking heart?
Is that a rising sun or a setting one?
The golden rays cut loose from India’s plains.
Where am I really?
Nowhere, I guess.
Somewhere between an old life and a new.
Salutation
Every diary needs one.
A word of greeting to begin it all
the gentle endearment—
Dear
(My D bulges into the
margin like a soft balloon.)
Now, a name.
For the one who will listen.
Anne Frank used Kitty. The cat left behind, I
once believed. I was wrong. It was just a name. I
could use Smoke, my real cat left behind, but his
eyes are too pale. You can’t confide to yellow
irises and patchy fur. Besides, the cat likes to
carry the dead in his mouth.
Just a month ago I might have used Helen. My
only friend. Helen of Elsinore, we used to joke. The
face that launched a thousand tractors. But even in the
country, the beautiful never understand the lonely.
I think of Michael.
(I can’t stop myself.)
Backrow Michael, sitting behind me in
homeroom. Blue eyes. Blond hair. Perfect
white teeth gnawing on his lower lip. Angelic.
I imagine the entry:
Dear Michael,
I am flying and thinking of you. This is what I
remember: You took my braid and wrapped it
around your neck like a black satin ribbon. You
pulled my face to your cheek. You breathed on
me, whispering, Who are you? When you bit
my hair, I thought I’d die. Pleasure. Shame.
Your lips. On me.
But you can’t address a boy in a diary, even if you
like him.
There’s a black snake around my neck, Michael
shouted. It’s choking me! Everyone in the hallway
looked. Laughed. Michael pretended to wrestle
with my braid until I slipped and fell. On top of
him. My sari unraveling like I was coming apart.
No, you can’t address a boy, even if you think you
love him.
And especially, if he loves someone else.
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Reviews for Karma
Booklist
“…A fascinating, epic page-turner.”
Read the full review…
VOYA Magazine
“…Ostlere does a terrific job of transporting the reader to India, recreating this turbulent time in its history, and adding to the mystic of this country…”
Read the full review…
Publishers Weekly
“…In contrast to the hatred, mistrust, and violence, the friendship—and then love—between Maya and Sandeep offers hope, rebirth, and renewal.”