The acclaimed million-copy bestselling novel about a woman's struggle to find happiness in a changing India. Married as a child bride to a tenant farmer she had never met, Rukmani works side by side in the field with her husband to wrest a living from a land ravaged by droughts, monsoons, and insects. With remarkable fortitude and courage, she meets changing times and fights poverty and disaster. This beautiful and eloquent story tells of a simple peasant woman in a primitive village in India whose whole life is a gallant and persistent battle to care for those she loves--an unforgettable novel that "will wring your heart out" (Associated Press).Includes an Introduction by Indira Ganesan And an Afterword by Thrity Umrigar