by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
ages: 10+
First sentence: ” Anand shivered as he carried a heavy load of dirty dishes from the tea stall to the roadside tap for washing.”

Once, Anand had everything he thought his heart could desire. He went to school, his family was happy living in Kolkata, India. Then his father lost his job, and headed to Dubai to get work. Eventually, the money stopped coming, and Anand and his mother were forced to take work. His sister slowly retreated into herself, until all three were just barely scraping by.

Then one day, Anand, in a fit of desperation, silently pleaded for someone — anyone! — to help him, and an old man showed up. Being the kind-hearted person he is, Anand helped the old man, and in return the old man — who is a Master in the mysterious Brotherhood — offered Anand the chance of a lifetime: to aid him in carrying the sacred conch shell back to the Silver Valley. There would, of course, be dangers along the way — a corrupt Healer named Surabhanu is after the shell’s power — and, of course, Anand would be tried and tested in ways he could never imagine.

There’s fantasy, and then there’s epic fantasy: the journey against incredible odds that our hero has to take, succumbing to temptations and betrayals, passing tests and trials, learning and growing until he becomes something greater than himself. Sure there’s magic (not the least of which is a “talking” conch shell) — though of a more mystical sort — and danger — natural and supernatural — and battles — which is to be expected — but mostly it’s about Anand and his growth and learning process.

All this gave the novel a formulaic feel, but perhaps because it was set in India or perhaps because Divakaruni is an intriguing storyteller, it rose above the fantasy cliches that were littered throughout and became an intriguing read.