TLC Book Tour: The Color of our Sky

Amita Trasi's novel debut novel is both heartbreaking and hopeful.  Set in India, it explores the devastating practice of the human slave trade and how two young girls were forever impacted by it.

Mukta was a girl born from a prostitute destined for that life herself.  When she is taken in by a foster family who has a daughter close to her age, the two become friends.  The five years Mukta spends in their home are much better than any life she could have imagined.  She and Tara are as close as sisters, yet she is not allowed to go to school with Tara and is left with a list of chores she must carry out.

Abruptly this life comes to an end as Mukta is kidnapped from the home one night.  Eleven years later, Tara blames herself for what happened to Mukta. She and her father had relocated to America shortly after Mukta's abduction and until recently Tara believed that Mukta had died.  Now knowing that her father had searched for Mukta without success for eleven years, she decides to return to India to look for herself.

This trip to India takes Tara back in time as she sees the house she once lived in, meets her grandparents who were estranged from their children and who Tara has never met before, and reconnects with people from her childhood.  It also brings to light many secrets her family had.  No matter what Tara encounters she continues to look for Mukta, a girl she loved like a sister, and won't give up until she finds her.

The topic of human slave trade is a difficult one. In this novel Trasi explains the inheritance of such a lifestyle and how this often occurs in India.  I had some ideas fairly early in this novel as to Mukta's parentage, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this book, and may have caused me to read even more quickly to see if my suspicions were correct.  This is a fast read with suspense and a little romance and family secrets all mixed together. 

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for providing a copy of this book for my review.  All opinions expressed are, as always, my own.

For more information about The Color Of Our Sky, visit HarperCollins books.