Tenacity: Penciling the Journey and Inking the Destiny

This Indo-Fijian author’s memoir is a story of risk, courage, and determination. Ultimately, it’s a story of the human spirit’s triumph over fear. Born into poverty, uprooted from her homeland, forced to marry a stranger, subjected to physical and emotional abuse, Veena Sharma’s spirit demanded that she risk the emotional pain of ostracism and realize her right to determine the colors of her own story. It is her story of embracing risk and change—and learning to dance with them. Beginning with a painting of life in Fiji that cradles readers so softly that they wish that they had been born there, readers then accompany her on an adventure to Canada as her family relocates. There is no way to grasp her family’s insistence she marry a stranger. Her parents, victims of cultural conformity, insist she stay with him regardless of the physical and mental abuse he inflicts. Veena’s choices inspire readers to deny fear its power and to embrace change so they can become the authors of their own stories.