This story of a young widow who becomes one of the most powerful women in India " will transport you across centuries and continents" ( The Seattle Times). India, 1684. Moorti—widowed at seventeen and about to be burned on her husband's funeral pyre—is saved from the fire by a mysterious Englishman. Taken to safety and given employment by her savior, Job Charnock, Moorti is renamed Maria and must embrace her new life among the English traders. Though she is grateful to be alive, the intelligent and talented Maria is not content to be a kitchen servant for the rest of her life. Seizing the opportunity to learn English, she hopes this will bring her closer to the kind and gentle Job. But with so many obstacles in her path, will she be able to overcome adversity in pursuit of a better life? A tale of adventure and danger, hardship and heartbreak, excitement and romance, this is the enthralling tale of a truly remarkable woman, where fiction meets fact. Filled with the heat and beauty of India, Maria's story lingers long after the final page. "Research and authenticity resonate in every chapter." — The Seattle Times "Politically, sexually, and racially, Kirchner is returning some small sense of agency to the people who have lost everything—even their names―to history." — The Seattle Review of Books
