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Book Review of Shiva's Fire

Shiva's Fire


Set in post-independence India, this book for older children is about a Shiva dancer. Parvati, daughter of peasant parents, has always been drawn to dance, and is picked by a guru to study with him in gurukulam, (an institution similar to a convent) and later to dance a religious dance before a Maharaja, and to become his teaching assistant. Of course she meets a handsome young man, and has to decide between love and religiously-oriented dance. A well-written book about a society few children have read about.