Nectar in a Sieve, Kamala Markandaya

Featuring a new introduction, this critically acclaimed novel tells the story of India
and its people through the eyes of one woman and her experiences in one peasant family
in a primitive Indian village. Married as a child bride to a tenant farmer she had
never seen, she worked side by side in the field with her husband to wrest a living.

Starvation was a certainty that Markandaya knew firsthand. In 1943 starvation in Bengal
of epidemic proportions claimed the lives of over three million people. Markandaya
describes hunger in Nectar in a Sieve with reference to a starving people, who are
sometimes willing to do anything in order to feed themselves. People’s attitude towards
the new spectrum of economic opportunities is tempered by the cruelty of the natural
environment on which they rely. The book also investigates the teachings of Gandhi,
leader of India’s freedom movement. Markandaya discusses such issues as the
importance of freedom and rights alongside the importance of spiritual purity and
goodness. All of these religious, cultural, economic, social, and political issues
are deftly crafted into this personal narrative. Ultimately, Nectar in a Sieve
provides infinite doors through which to explore these universal themes in the
face of a changing society.

Another book I haven't read (my books are mainly about roses or music) This one is
from a list compiled by Boris.