The Village by the Sea

A classic survival story by one of India's most acclaimed authors, set in a quiet village outside of Bombay about two siblings who struggle to maintain their family's bond in difficult times

Anita Desai's only book for children is an exciting and moving story about life in a small Indian village and life in the unimaginably big city of Bombay. The main characters are thirteen-year-old Lila and Hari, her brother, who is a year younger. As the book begins their life is one of almost unendurable hardship and sorrow. Their mother is sick and has to be looked after constantly. Their father is out of work, and all he does is drink. There are only the two kids to tend to their mother and restrain their father, and to try to find a little food for their parents and younger sister and themselves. Money ran out a long time ago, and their father isn't someone to invite anyone's goodwill. The task Lila and Hari face is not just unendurable; it is impossible.

Then Hari goes to Bombay. At first he is lost and scared, but before long he finds his footing and a way to make some money. Soon he has a plan and, together with Lila, he might be able to pull their family through to a new life.

Anita Desai is a novelist, short-story writer, and author of children's books. She was born in Mussoorie, India, and studied at Delhi University. Desai is the author of several novels, including Fire on the Mountain, as well as Clear Light of Day, In Custody, and Fasting, Feasting, each of which was short-listed for the Booker Prize. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and of Girton College, Cambridge and Clare Hall, Cambridge. Desai is the John E. Burchard Professor of Writing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.