The Sleeping Dictionary
Sujata Massey
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
4.07
· 14 ratings · 529 pages · Published: 20 Aug 2013
YOU ASK FOR MY NAME, THE REAL ONE, AND I CANNOT TELL. IT IS NOT FOR LACK OF EFFORT.
In 1930, a great ocean wave blots out a Bengali village, leaving only one survivor, a young girl. As a maidservant in a British boarding school, Pom is renamed Sarah and discovers her gift for languages. Her private dreams almost die when she arrives in Kharagpur and is recruited into a secretive, decadent world. Eventually, she lands in Calcutta, renames herself Kamala, and creates a new life rich in books and friends. But although success and even love seem within reach, she remains trapped by what she is . . . and is not. As India struggles to throw off imperial rule, Kamala uses her hard-won skills—for secrecy, languages, and reading the unspoken gestures of those around her—to fight for her country’s freedom and her own happiness.
Tagged as:
- historical 3
- historical fiction 3
- literary fiction 2
- coming of age 2
- female mc 2
- mystery 2
- world war II 1
- protagonists of colour 1
- 20th century 1
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- format - reader age
- audiobook 3
- book 1
- adult fiction 1