Secret Keeper (24 page)

Many thanks to editor Françoise Bui for understanding my life between cultures, agent Laura Rennert for stewarding my writing dreams, the members of my writers’ group for eagle- eyed critiques, my loving family (including the dear ones in Kolkata), and, last but never least, the Keeper of my secrets, who is taking me from start to finish.

MITALI PERKINS (whose first name means “friendly” in Bangla) was born in Kolkata. The Bose family was always on the move, leaving India for Ghana, Cameroon, England, New York, and Mexico. They finally settled in California, where Mitali grew up.

After her marriage, Mitali’s travels continued, and the Perkins family lived in India, Bangladesh, and Thailand before putting down roots in Massachusetts. The third daughter in her family of origin, Mitali now thrives in an otherwise all- male household (husband, two sons, two Labs, and one ferret).

Mitali’s previous young adult novels include
Monsoon Summer, The Not- So- Star- Spangled Life of Sunita Sen,
and the companion First Daughter books, as well as
Rickshaw Girl,
a story for younger readers. She maintains a Web site (
www.mitaliperkins.com
) and a blog (mitaliblog.com), where she chats about books, movies, music, television, and life between cultures.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are
the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual persons living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2009 by Mitali Perkins
Map illustration © 2009 Rick Britton

All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perkins, Mitali. Secret keeper / Mitali Perkins. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: In 1974 when her father leaves New Delhi, India, to seek a job in New York, Asha, a tomboy at the advanced age of sixteen, feels thwarted in the home of her extended family in Calcutta where she, her mother, and sister must stay, and when her father dies before he can send for them, they must remain with their relatives and observe the old-fashioned traditions that Asha hates.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89187-8
[1. East Indians—Fiction. 2. Sisters—Fiction. 3. Individuality—Fiction.
4. Family life—India—Fiction. 5. India—History—1947—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.P4315Se 2009

[Fic]—dc22
2008021475

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