The feminist theme that dominates the happily-ever-after ending seems more American than Indian, but kids will likely enjoy this dramatic view of an endangered adolescence and cheer Koly's hard-won victories. She is saved from a dismal fate by her love of beauty, her talent for embroidery and the philanthropy of others-and by Whelan's tidy plotting, which introduces a virtuous young man, a savvy benefactress and a just employer in the nick of time. Koly, likened to a ""homeless bird"" in a famous poem by Rabindranath Tagore, embodies the tragic plight of Hindu women without status, family or financial security. Summary: When thirteen-year-old Koly enters into an ill-fated arranged. Set in contemporary India, the story centres on thirteen-year-old Koly. Koly is widowed almost immediately later, she is abandoned in the holy city of Vrindavan by her cruel mother-in-law. ISBN: 0064408191 (pbk.) Edition: 1st Harper Trophy ed. Homeless Bird is a YA novel by American author Gloria Whelan, published in 2001. The truth is worse than she could have feared: the groom, Hari, is a sickly child, and his parents have wanted only a dowry, not a wife for him, in order to pay for a trip to Benares so Hari might bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges. Only 13 when her parents find her a husband, Koly can't help feeling apprehensive about leaving home to live in a distant village with her in-laws and husband, none of whom she has met. Whelan (Miranda's Last Stand) blends modern Hindu culture with age-old Indian traditions as she profiles a poor girl's struggle to survive in a male-dominated society.
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