In My Hands

October 13, 2022

In My Hands

In My Hands

by Sathya Achia

Genre: YA Fantasy Adventure

Sixteen-year-old Chandra S. Chengappa, a competitive classical dancer, passes for an average American teenager. But she has a monster of a secret: She can see evil in the form of the rakshasi-a demon supposed to exist only in South Asian folklores.

After discovering a glowing disc hidden among a collection of ancient Indian artifacts in her mother's yoga studio, Chandra starts having strange visions of a past she cannot remember, and the kind of future she does not want. The ruthless rakshasi wants what Chandra does not realize she has-a map to the Golden Trishula, a powerful, celestial weapon once wielded by the Hindu Goddess Durga-that controls the past, present, and future.

When tragedy strikes, Chandra and her sister are forced to leave their hometown in Virginia and travel to India to live in a remote jungle village devastated by the rakshasi. With the help of a cunning fortune teller, a fashion-forward Lambadi historian, a handsome daredevil, and a kind-hearted cow herder, Chandra must forge ahead into the unknown and prepare for the fight of her life before the people and the jungle she has fallen in love with are plunged into a supernatural darkness forever.

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Sathya Achia was born and raised in Ontario, Canada, where she grew up devouring books and playing along the pebbly shores of Lake Huron, before moving to the United States.

Sathya’s creative work is influenced by her South Indian Kodava culture. She grew up spending summers in the remote hills and enchanting jungles of the Western Ghats in India, where she learned the art of storytelling from her grandparents.

As a young reader, she missed seeing heroes like herself—of two worlds and cultures—so she enjoys writing stories inspired by her East meets West roots, mythology and folklore, and the natural world. She believes in the importance of diversity and representation in children's literature and creates stories of adventure and discovery for picture book, middle grade, and young adult readers.

When not spinning stories, Sathya can be found trying a new yoga pose, exploring the great outdoors, traveling the world, or wrapped up in her greatest adventure of all: Motherhood.

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