First published 2023
Devaki Jain stands at thirty, facing a world that wants to limit her dreams. She travels alone across India to meet Gandhi's follower Vinoba Bhave. She hitchhikes through Europe wearing a sari. At Oxford University, she washes dishes to pay her way. She falls in love with a Yugoslav man at a Quaker camp in Germany. Through decades of work as an economist, Jain fights for recognition of poor women laboring in India's informal economy. She crosses paths with Nobel laureate Doris Lessing, who urges her to tell her story. She meets world leaders like Nelson Mandela and Henry Kissinger. She befriends writers Iris Murdoch and Gloria Steinem. At each turn, Jain pushes against expectations for what an Indian woman should become. Her personal journey mirrors India's own path to independence. The memoir weaves together intimate moments with political awakening, showing how one woman's refusal to accept limits shaped both feminist economics and her own extraordinary life.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, gender-studies, feminism, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century, activism
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, found-family, personal-journey
Setting: Europe, Germany, India, India's Informal Economy, Oxford University, Yugoslavia
Period: Decades, India's Path to Independence
256 pages · Hardcover · The New Press