Books: The Short & Simple Annals

NECTAR IN A SIEVE (248 pp.)—Kamala Markandaya—John Day ($3.50).

When Rukmani was twelve and ready for marriage, she was obviously no bargain. She was not much to look at, and her father had gone broke providing dowries for her older sisters. The best the old man could find for her was a tenant farmer named Nathan who came from a poor village a day's travel away by bullock cart. When the child bride reached her new home, she saw a thatched mud hut. Holding back her tears, she lied bravely: "No, I am not frightened. It suits me quite well to live...

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