There is hope of change coming to India. Word from the north says that the British are moving out and Indians are going to rule themselves. Does any of this matter to Ashish and his wife, Kia? They are still Untouchables and of the lowest class in India. They still toil from sunup to sundown to tend the rice fields for the Landlord Boban Joseph, just as Ashish's parents did before him because they are indebted. But his eleven year old daughter, Shridula, clings to a hope deep inside her. She is always asking why things are the way they are. Ashish does not have an answer.

When Boban Joseph is killed one evening, his brother Saji Stephen becomes Landlord. He and Ashish are well acquainted, as Ashish was called to the Landlord's house to be Saji Stephen's playmate when he was younger. Saji was always misbehaving then and made Ashish take the punishment for Saji. The Untouchable workers feared what kind of Landlord Saji would be. But Saji doesn't pay much attention to the rice patties, the workers or the harvest, and neither does his two grown sons. They all just live a leisure life of luxury on the plantation.

Saji summons Shridula to come to the house to play with his eleven year old daughter, Glory Anna. She has been raised by her grandmother, who recently passed away, and was raised a true Christian. Glory Anna does not view Shridula or any of the Untouchables as lower class. She thinks everyone should be treated as an equal. As the months passed, Shridula returns to the village and tells every one of the changes taking place with the government. Many questions still remain unanswered for the Untouchables.

When Britain pulls out of India and the country is divided into a Hindu region and a Muslim region, Saji's oldest son leaves for Delphi to seek a place in the government. Saji gives his youngest son, Nihal Amos, partial control of the workers and harvest. When Shridula hears about this, she decides it is time to take action. With Glory Anna's help, she packs her things and leaves to get her father. Together they leave the Untouchable village during the night. What will be their fate? Will they be able to live alone and survive, or will Saji hunt them down?

THE HOPE OF SHRIDULA is the second book in Kay Marshall Strom's Blessings in India Series. It is set in the mid 1940's when there is much upheaval and unrest in the country and many people question their future. Shridula's hope of one day living a free life never fades. She learns about God from her father's Bible, given to him years earlier by the pale woman at the Mission Clinic. She puts her faith and trust in Him for a brighter future. This is a wonderful historical, inspirational novel that will bless your heart.

Book Summary

India: 1946. “Blessing!” Ashish murmured. “Such a name for a man cursed by a million gods!” For forty-eight years, his family toiled as slaves in the fields of the high-caste Lal family, and all because of one small debt. Ashish and his family knew nothing of the hatred for the British seething around them, nor of the struggle for independence that simmered throughout India. At fifty-four, Ashish was old and worn out. His wife had died long before—how many years, he had no idea.

Even though he had four sons to work beside him in the fields, every day was a struggle to survive. Sometimes his only daughter worked, too, but she also cooked and cleaned and kept the clothes in repair. His wife had named the girl Shridula—Blessings. “Perhaps the name will bring you more fortune than it brought me,” Ashish told his daughter. His words proved to be prophetic in ways he could never have imagined. And when the flames of revolt brought independence to India, they seared change into the families of Ashish and Lal.