Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame

I read only a handful of middle grade novels every year, that too usually fantasy somehow related to Asia because despite feeling that the age group is not for me, I want to support Asian authors always. But when I saw that this book was gonna be a historical fiction set in pre-independent India, I couldn't resist.

There are hardly any books in YA or younger age groups that are on my radar which explore the colonization of India/South Asia in any meaningful way, so this novel set just after the events of the 1857 First War of Independence felt like a breath of fresh air. Through the story of Meera - a child bride and a preteen widow all set to be sacrificed in the ritual of sati - the author shows us the reality of India at the time. How there was a dichotomy between rebels wanting to achieve freedom for India from the British colonizers who stole our land and taxed our people for using our own resources, leading to many dying of hunger; while at the same time, there were still Indian families who supported the cause for freedom of the country but couldn't imagine the women in their households to be equally free.

We also get to meet interesting and brave young girls like Meera, Bhavani, Chhaya and more who want to prove that just because they are women, it doesn't mean they can't contribute to the cause. We get to see the indifference that British women showed towards the Indians, considering themselves as liberators and saviors and the rebels as just inconveniences who didn't deserve any leniency. The author did a brilliant job showing exactly how the Indian people were exploited and then expected to feel fortunate to be serving their colonial masters. It definitely evoked very strong feelings in me because of my personal connection to this history, and that's probably why I was so cheering on for the young women to succeed in their small rebellion and carve a path for their freedom and future.

To conclude, this is a very engaging middle grade novel about a young brave woman who decides to escape her fate and make her own future; but this is also an excellent exploration of the atrocious conditions during British East India Company's rule and how many people contributed in their own small ways which led to our independence, despite many of them living in dire straits and also facing additional problems of their own like misogyny, sexism, illiteracy etc. This is a wonderfully written tale of strength and resilience during a tumultuous part of Indian history, and I can't recommend it enough.