Mud Lilies by Indra Ramayan

I actually felt a shiver run through me when I finished this book. As a lifelong voracious reader, this almost never happens to me, so it’s very commanding when it does. This book is powerful and dripping in sadness. It’s difficult and so many times it made me so angry I wanted to throw it across the room. The book focuses on the difficult life of Chanie Nyrider, a runaway from abusive parents who is lured into a life of prostitution. She has a chance to make a change in a high school equivalency program for troubled youth, thanks to a run in with the law. Can she get away from the terrible people who are holding her back? Will she learn to trust her new friends?

I was angry with almost everyone, including Chanie, who had never had a fair chance. I was angry at Blue, Brenda and Mr. Tanji. I hated the way they all treated each other. Perhaps that is the point. Real-life makes me angry too sometimes. This book is real and raw and I believe author Indra Ramayan writes from a very deep and personal place.

This read is tough but by the end, I believe, worth it. They need hope and the belief that there are some people who do good; that good people exist who really do try to make the world a little bit better. We just have to look extra hard for them.

Indra Ramayan believes in the magic of love poems and the power of daydreams. Inspired by her wild past and writers such as Heather O’Neill and Angie Abdou, Indra wrote her first novel Mud Lilies while studying creative writing at Athabasca University. Indra is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers and lives in Edmonton, Alberta with a Boston Terrier named Bodhi.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cormorant Books (May 21 2022)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 392 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 177086640X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1770866409

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Laurie Burns

Laurie Burns is an English as additional language teacher to immigrants, literacy volunteer and voracious reader living in Dartmouth.