Khalil Rahman Ali

It is 1843, and Mustafa Ali, an eighteen year-old Muslim Indian labourer from a village near Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, is forced to run away through the discovery of his forbidden love for Chandini Sharma, his Hindu childhood sweetheart. His dream was to find work, save his money and return to ask for his beloved’s hand.

This dream took him further afield into the promise of good work, pay and conditions as an indentured labourer on one of the sugar plantations, thousands of miles away in the colony of British Guiana on the mainland of South America. His experiences on the Grand Trunk Road across Uttar Pradesh to Bengal, and on the treacherous sea voyage from Calcutta to Georgetown, tested his resolve to the limit. Then, when he and his companions were allocated to their sugar plantations, they had to endure and overcome more challenges of racial, religious and cultural differences, in addition to the unrelenting and punishing workloads in extremely harsh conditions.

This is a story that is shared by millions of the descendents of indentured Indian labourers who are spread across all parts of the world. Will Mustafa succeed in his quest?

• 216 x 138 mm
• 312 pages
• Paperback