The Missing Queen

Part political thriller and part reimagining of the Ramayana, Samhita Arni s debut novel is a brilliant critique of the political and media landscapes in modern India. Here, a young investigative journalist retraces Sita s steps in the years after she was banished from Ayodhya by her husband. But in the course of her search, she runs afoul of the sacred, ancient city s all-powerful secret police and its mysterious head, the Washerman. Forced to flee, the journalist makes her way through a war-devastated land in search of answers and the missing queen.

Arni s first book, The Mahabharata: A Child s View, written when she was just eight years old, was translated into seven languages and has sold more than fifty thousand copies. Her second, a graphic rendering of Sita s Ramayana, was a New York Times bestseller. A dark satire, The Missing Queen marks the triumphant return of a writer with fans around the world.