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Rajiani Devaki (Raji) is a girl of thirteen from India. On a cold December morning in 1925, Vincent Fusilier finds Raji sleeping in his parents’ barn. He thinks she’s a Gypsy and tells her she has to go. She doesn’t understand English and doesn’t know where she is, having recently escaped from a house in Queens New York where she had been held for the past nine years as an indentured servant. After Vincent leaves for school, Raji slips into his house to find something to eat. She peeks into the front room and is startled to see a man sitting in a wheelchair. He stares at her but apparently cannot move or speak.

Fuse and Raji are brought together by teenage hardships, and a horse named, Handsome Randsom. Animals always have a way of paving a path of friendship. Both are mature beyond their adolescent years. Fuse is going to school, helping take care of his chronically ill father, and making sure that everything is taken care of on the farm. Raji is having to deal with terrible discrimination on almost a daily basis, learning the English language with the help of Fuse while teaching him a few words of Hindi at the same time, and deciphering her own beliefs and opinions of India’s cultures.

The other characters bring a piquant flavor ..
Julia Smithers, a nurse who watches after Fuse’s father, William, Julia’s helpful son, and Doctor Octavia Pompeii, a small-framed, caring but fiery woman.

You will take from this book lessons to be learned, strength, and friendship. I will be passing this Novel on to my daughter to read!

A Special Thanks goes out to Ariion for the opportunity to review this Novel on what a true friendship should be about.

Images Courtesy of © 2009 Ariion Kathleen Brindley Books