Thirteen-year old Mukti, a child slave, toils in the granite quarries of Karnataka, India, dreaming of escape. When faced with the abuses of her captors, she thinks back to happier times with her best friend, Ruchita. Mukti is offered a chance at freedom, but she must undertake a dangerous, elaborate journey that is tangled and utterly dependent on her personal discovery of self-worth and courage.
Unbeknownst to Mukti, Ruchita has also fallen victim to enslavement. Ruchita's only solace is her journal; a place where she can assert her identity in the face of a system that wants to strip her of all dignity and hope.
Freedom Child follows the two girls as they face the horrors of slavery and plan their escape. Will they find each other, or will the cruelties of humanity prove too much to bear?
Author Chandra Ingram has done more than write a powerful novel about slavery; she also educates readers about India's current corruption, poverty, caste system, and bondage system. She will open your eyes to the horrors of slavery that are still occurring in our so-called "modern" society. This is a must-read for anyone interested in global politics and human rights.
About the Author: Chandra Ingram has seen extreme poverty and social injustice firsthand during her trips to India, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, South Africa, Indonesia, Egypt, and Nepal. Ingram was especially incensed by the horrific practices still prevalent in India and began writing Freedom Child when she was twelve years old. She extensively researched modern-day slavery and at fifteen, returned to India where she personally interviewed over sixty-five current and former slaves. The true stories of those she met while sneaking into hidden factories, remote quarries, and agriculture farms across Karnataka have since been woven into her novel.
Ingram spent her childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from Sacred Heart Preparatory in Atherton, California. She began studying at the University of Southern California in the fall of 2016.
