From the Publisher
A remarkable debut novel set in India that shows one girl's struggle for independence.
During World War II and the last days of British occupation in India, fifteen-year-old Vidya dreams of attending college. But when her forward-thinking father is beaten senseless by the British police, she is forced to live with her grandfather's large traditional family, where the women live apart from the men and are meant to be married off as soon as possible.
Vidya's only refuge becomes her grandfather's upstairs library, which is forbidden to women. There she meets Raman, a young man also living in the house who relishes her intellectual curiosity. But when Vidya's brother decides to fight with the hated British against the Nazis, and when Raman proposes marriage too soon, Vidya must question all she has believed in.
Padma Venkatraman's debut novel poignantly shows a girl struggling to find her place in a mixedup world. Climbing the Stairs is a powerful story about love and loss set against a fascinating historical backdrop.
Publishers Weekly
Venkatraman makes a memorable debut with this lushly evoked novel set in India during WWII. Fifteen-year-old Vidya is shocked and proud to learn that her appa(father), a compassionate doctor, has joined the "freedom fighters," who follow Gandhi's example of nonviolent protest against British rule. But tragedy strikes: during a rally Vidya's father is beaten nearly to death and left with severe brain injury. Because he can no longer practice medicine, the family is forced to move in with relatives, who treat them as servants. The only bright moments of Vidya's days, otherwise spent under the thumb of her tyrannical aunt, come before dinner, when she is allowed to slip upstairs to the library and bury herself in books. More than a feisty Cinderella story (and yes, Vidya does find a prince), this novel vivifies a unique era and culture as it movingly expresses how love and hope can blossom even under the most dismal of circumstances. Ages 12—up. (May)
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Children's Literature
Opening in August 1941, Climbing the Stairs spans a year in the life of a fifteen-year-old girl in pre-independence India. Vidya's father is injured in a protest march, and she and her family must move to Madras. They must live in their ancestral home with the father's extended family, and they must accept a much more traditional and restrictive lifestyle than they enjoyed in liberal, cosmopolitan Bombay. The flavors of place and time are heartfelt and ring strikingly true, showing a society on the cusp of change. That change promises to be at once liberating and wrenching is the conflict that drives this story. For Vidya, the winds that portend a new political order simultaneously sweep in yearnings for a new social order as well, one free from the caste and gender barriers that her father has sought to get rid of, but that his traditional extended family embrace. These details are well-placed and completely on target. They will ring achingly true for readers who know the sociocultural context, while being sufficiently emotionally grounded to engage those who do not. Where this book falls short, at times, is in matters of craft. Vidya sometimes seems overly wise and at other times too immature for her fifteen years. The Tamil words sprinkled through the dialogue add interesting and compelling auditory undertones, as if they were a kind of linguistic background music offered up as a visual score for the reader. However, the appended comma phrases with English translation feel contrived, the text seeming to call for the rendering of meaning within the story's context. Whether or not this is the result of an overly-involved editorial hand is unclear, as Venkatraman's earlierwriting, published in India by Tulika Press, comes across as far more authentic and less self-conscious. Still, this is an engaging addition to the growing body of work for young readers that reflect consciousness of the South Asian diaspora while throwing a new light upon relatively familiar historical events such as World War II. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami
KLIATT
A historical novel set in India during WW II, as Gandhi and his followers are challenging British rule. Vidya is the beloved daughter of a doctor involved in the protests; she is with him when he is beaten senseless by British police as he attempts to aid a wounded protester. This injury causes the family to take refuge in the home of their father's father—and so Vidya, her older brother, her mother, and her invalid father go live with their traditional relatives, enduring daily insults. Fortunately, Vidya's grandfather allows her to continue her schooling and opens his library to her, so she finds some respite. At 15, she is approaching the age when the family will arrange her marriage, and she adamantly is opposed to this plan. So, she is her father's daughter, protesting the old ways. How this is resolved, how she reconciles herself to family tradition while also finding her own strength, is the stuff of this story. The author's family shared much of this history, and she uses her own mother as an inspiration for the character of Vidya. Any YA interested in women's history and women's struggles for education and empowerment will find Vidya's story well worth reading. Reviewer: Claire Rosser
School Library Journal
Gr 7-9- In 1941, 15-year-old Vidya's life in Bombay stands in direct contrast to that of her relatives in Madras for whom the traditional path of an arranged marriage, babies, and a life of serving a husband is not only expected but is also considered a girl's only proper option. Alternately, the goal of attending college like her brother is encouraged by her physician father. Turmoil is raging within Colonial India's borders as many view their British occupation negatively, holding protest rallies. Nonviolence, one of Vidya's father's principles, motivates him to secretly attend to the injured and beaten protestors. The teen's idyllic life changes in an instant when he is beaten by the British police and suffers extensive brain damage. Unable to earn a living and lead a productive life, this highly respected man and his family move in with his relatives. Vidya's dreams are shattered as her father's stature is immediately lowered to that of "an idiot" and she is forced to withstand her aunt's sharp-tongued, abusive taunts. Vidya's bright, bold, independent character remains determined to achieve her goals with the help and support of her grandfather, who first allows her access to his private library and later agrees to her formal university education. This is a poignant look at a young woman's vigilance to break from expectations and create her own destiny amid a country's struggle for independence.-Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI
Kirkus Reviews
A welcome addition to the small but growing body of historical fiction about growing up female in India. Vidya, 15, has enjoyed a privileged life, and her father has promised her a university education. When he suffers permanent brain damage after being brutally beaten at a demonstration, however, the family must move in with his conservative Brahmin relatives in Madras, where the role of women is confined to servitude and childbearing. While Gandhi leads the struggle for Indian independence from British rule, the Axis powers of World War II pose a rising threat to Britain, Europe and now Asia. Set on education and independence, Vidya must decide what to do about her attraction to a boy, Raman. Her brother, Kitta, must weigh the path of nonviolent resistance to British rule against the need to support the British effort to win the war. The novel excels in its detailed depiction of a Brahmin girlhood and family life during a time of intense social and political change. A good companion piece to Kashmira Sheth's Keeping Corner (2007). (Fiction. 12 & up)
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