Shalini will never forget her daughter Leila's third birthday party: it was the last time she saw her alive. Sixteen years have passed and Shalini's life is unrecognizable. Her husband gone: beaten and dragged from their home the night Leila disappeared. Shalini, once privileged, is now disgraced. She trawls the streets desperate to discover where Leila now lives - if she lives at all. In this repressive state, where tradition and purity are valued above all, those outside the city walls - forced to live in filth and oppressive heat - are less than nothing. But can Shalini find a way back in? Will she see Leila again?
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