Shivapriya’s Dance

About the Book

Shivapriya was just a child when thugs murdered her parents on the outskirts of their town in Kashmir. From that moment, she was raised by her grandfather, her Dada-ji, in an ashram deep in the Himalaya Mountains of Northern India. It’s mostly an idyllic life until their security is threatened by forces from outside their peaceful valley.

Just as Shivapriya grows to love Gopi, the man she became betrothed to as a youngster, and they plan a wedding, Gopi dies from injuries suffered in a mysterious accident. Dada-ji determines that Shivapriya’s life is also in peril. He arranges for her to travel undetected to New York where he hopes she can begin life anew. But, New York and her adopted family bring their own challenges which test her faith instilled in her by her grandfather years before.

A work of cultural heritage fiction, Shivapriya’s Dance follows a young girl as she leaves her birth home of India and is forced to survive alone on the cruel streets of the Bronx.

About the Author

Krishmatie Ridgeway earned a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and a master’s degree in Education. She has published two books and nine articles on education. This is her first novel.