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By the banks of the River Yamuna in northern India, where rice paddies of basmati merge into fields of sugarcane, twelve-year-old Madan lives with his impoverished family in the town of Gorapur. Madan's father works for Avtaar Singh, a powerful and controlling man who owns the largest factory in town and much of the land around it. Madan's sharp mind and hardened determination catch Avtaar Singh's attention. When Madan's father's misdeeds jeopardize his sister's life, Madan strikes his first bargain with Avtaar Singh to save her.
Drawn into Avtaar Singh's violent world, Madan becomes his son in every way but by blood. Suddenly it looks as if everything will change for Madan and his family until a forbidden love affair has brutal consequences and he is forced to leave behind all that is dear to him. On his journey toward redemption, Madan will have to bargain, once, twice, three times for his life and for the lives of those he loves.
"Starred Review. Malik's novel boasts masterful storytelling, with mesmerizing prose, heart-stopping action, and startling turns of events that feel both honest and astounding." - Publishers Weekly
"Recommended for those who enjoy dramas like Khaled Husseini's The Kite Runner." - Library journal
"Three Bargains is such a beautifully written book, full of moving, honest, indelible characters that make you hate to leave them by the end - an astonishing debut!" - Jonis Agee, author of The River Wife
"Richly textured and morally nuanced, it's the archetypal rags-to-riches story made urgent and new again, this time in modern India." - Debra Dean, author of The Mirrored World
"As huge and sprawling as India itself, Three Bargains is an epic novel of a nation in transition and a man determined to ride the crest of its wave…a dazzling page-turner of heartbreak and hope." - Ellen Feldman, author of The Unwitting
"This is the kind of novel one sinks into, forgetting everything but the story...The boy's exotic and extreme circumstances simply magnify the kinds of yearnings most of us have - for love, safety, a good father - and the conflicts and compromises we all face." - Peggy Payne, author of Sister India
This information about Three Bargains was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tania Malik was born in New Delhi, educated in boarding schools in the Himalayas, and raised in India, Africa, and the Middle East. She received her degree from the University of Delhi and currently lives in northern California with her husband, daughter, and dog. Three Bargains is her first novel.
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