Climbing the Stairs - Author Events

Book reading/signing events scheduled for CLIMBING THE STAIRS
Thursday May 1 The Other Tiger Bookstore, Westerly, RI, 3:00-5:00
Tuesday May 6 University of Rhode Island, Multicultural Center, 12:00-2:00
Saturday May 17 Barrington Books, Barrington, RI, 2:00 p.m.
Sunday May 18 Front Steet Books, Scituate, MA, 2:00 p.m.
Saturday May 31 Books on the Square, Providence, RI, 2:00 p.m.
Saturday Jun 14 Wellesley Booksmith, Wellesley, MA, 2:00 p.m.
Saturday Jun 28 Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT, 3:00 p.m.
There will be Indian Music, Indian Food, and Indian Art and Craft activities at most of the above events.

Climbing the Stairs - Synopsis

My debut novel, Climbing the Stairs, is already available for purchase online at major retailers such as amazon.com. It should be widely available at INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES and chains by May 1st. It was the subject of a recent article "Professor is always Plotting" in the Providence Journal - www.projo.com Thursday 6 Feb; click on the far left tab - news, cities and towns, North Kingstown, or paste this link into your browser: http://www.projo.com/ri/northkingstown/content/sc_author_02-07-08_SA8PJD3_v50.37f3fea.html
Here's the flap copy in case you'd like to know something more about the novel:

CLIMBING THE STAIRS

Fifteen-year-old Vidya dreams of going to college, an unusual proposition for a girl living in British-occupied India during World War II. When tragedy strikes, Vidya and her brother Kitta are forced to move into a traditional household with her grandfather and her extended family, where men live separately upstairs and the women who live below are meant to be married, not educated.

Breaking the rules, Vidya finds refuge in her grandfather’s second-floor library. There she meets Raman, a young man also living in the house. Surprisingly, he treats her like an equal and encourages her intellectual curiosity. But soon it’s clear Raman wants more than just friendship, and when Kitta makes a shocking choice the family cannot condone, Vidya’s life becomes a whirlwind of personal and political complications. Will she be strong enough to survive the storm?

With the lush settings and heady emotions that mark the best Indian literature, Padma Venkatraman’s debut novel is an epic story of love and loss set against a unique moment in history. Readers of all ages will find deep empathy with Vidya as she battles between ideas and emotions while struggling to pursue her dreams.

G. P. Putnam’s Sons

a division of

Penguin Young Readers Group

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.penguin.com/youngreaders

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