Dakshena Chronicles

The first novel in a series, Dakshena Chronicles illuminates the early life of independent, freethinking Dakshena Araneri, a girl from Bangalore, India, who is destined for greatness in a stereotype-driven world.

After losing her mother to a sudden heart attack when she was only eleven, Dakshena has always wondered how her father Manoj could have wed Poornima, the polar opposite of his wise, talented, and deeply benevolent first wife Divya. In desperate need of a reliable person to care for his two daughters while he's away, Manoj accepts the recommendation of his politician brother Chanakya and sister-in-law Meeny, who had attempted to match Manoj with her childhood friend before he married Divya.

Now Chanakya is once again exerting his influence over Manoj's family through the arranged marriage of Dakshena's older sister Sirisha to a callous playboy in order to create an alliance between two families that will extend his political sway.

Having inherited her mother's extraordinary intelligence and purity of soul, Dakshena gains an education in the ways of the world as she, Sirisha, and Manoj contend with the manipulative and corrupt actions of Chanakya, Meeny, and Poornima, as well as India's strict social norms.