Homeless Bird is a 2000 young adult novel by American author Gloria Whelan about a 13-year-old widow in the year 2000 in India.
Whelan did not visit India but read extensively about the country before she wrote the book.
[2] Her idea of the book came from a story on child widows and an exhibit on Asian embroidery in America.
Based on Indian tradition, her family has made an arranged marriage for her.
He teaches Koly to read and shows her a book of poems signed by the author Tagore.
Finally she sees the rickshaw driver, who tells her that Sass left for a train hours ago.
Mala is good at embroidery but very outspoken, and even steals expensive cloths from Mr. Das for her own crafts.
Raji comes back and tells Koly that he is fixing up his farm and building a home.
Koly, just like the homeless bird in one of the Tagore poems, has finally found her home.
PankhuriD of The Guardian praised the novel's storyline and characterization but pointed out that "many of the customs she talks about appear fake and outdated" and that "in contemporary India, girls don't get married at 13".
[3] It was reviewed positively in Publishers Weekly, which also noted that "[t]he feminist theme that dominates the happily-ever-after ending seems more American than Indian".
Former NBA player Mario Chalmers has described this book in a 2017 interview as a "delectable feast of knowledge of the socio-economic state of the year 2000" and the "harsh reality of the Indian people around the globe" (sic) [5] Morgan Freeman