Rice Mother

A compelling glimpse into a captivatingly exotic world of myth and magic.

Beguiled by promises of wealth, fourteen-year-old Lakshmi leaves her native Ceylon for Malaya and marriage to a man many years her senior. But Ayah has lied to her and her family about his circumstances and in fact he lives in poverty. A woman of formidable energy and intelligence, Lakshmi provides security, if not luxury, for her family, though at a considerable emotional cost. Then the Japanese army invades during WWII. On the eve of peace, her beloved eldest daughter is raped and killed by the occupying army. The family bears deep scars and inflicts those wounds on the next generation. But in Nisha, Lakshmi's great-granddaughter, it is as if Fate has come full circle and the novel ends on a note of reconciliation and hope.

Rani Manicka was born and educated in Malaysia. An economics graduate, she now divides her time between Malaysia and the UK. The Rice Mother won the South East Asia and South Pacific Region 2003 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, has been translated into 22 languages, and gained international acclaim.