Author Rasana Atreya Announces Her First Book: “Tell a Thousand Lies”

In a culture where skin colour can determine one’s destiny, fraternal twins PULLAMMA and LATA are about to embark on a journey that will tear their lives apart.

Dark skinned Pullamma dreams of being a wife. She is aware that with three girls in the family, there isn’t enough dowry to go around. But a girl can hope. As the sixteen year old helps ready the house for her older sister’s bride viewing, she prays for a positive outcome to the event. What happens next is so inconceivable that it will shape Pullamma’s future in ways she couldn’t have foreseen.

Fair skinned and pretty, Lata would rather study medicine. Unable to grasp the depth of Lata’s desire, Grandma formalizes a wedding alliance for the girl. Distraught, Lata rebels. She ends up pregnant. The ensuing scandal forces her into marriage.

Lata ends up poor, uneducated and married to a man she cannot abide. Pullamma, meanwhile, is living Lata’s dream — she is rich, powerful, and married to a good man. In a cruel twist of fate, however, Pullamma must keep her husband a secret – or she risks being stoned by the superstitious villagers who wrongly believe she is a Goddess.

“We also particularly enjoyed the work of Rasana Atreya, [one of] our [two] runners up.” — The Writing Room Bursary Competition 2011.

Tell a Thousand Lies is shortlisted for the 2012 Tibor Jones South Asia prize. It is currently available through the KDP Select program on Amazon.com, and at Amazon UK.[subscribe2]

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