Seems things haven't changed much for Ashish and his family now while still working as indebted servants in India since the first book by Kay Marshall Strom, The Faith of Ashish. Now many years later, Ashish and his wife Zia have only one surviving child remaining, a young girl named Shridula and for Ashish, it provides the only outlet of hope left in the world being one of the lowest castes of people.

Deemed by the higher castes as Untouchables, Ashish's family have spent 48 years serving out their families debt which it seems will never be paid. What's even worse is the treatment of the servants among the Lal family. Those living on the land are forced to work for the son of Mammen Samuel, Boban Joseph, who has personally vowed not to be a lenient as his father. He pushes them to work in the grueling heat in which people begin dropping like flies, forces to not pay them in their rice rations unless they work harder than in previous harvests, and worst of all, pursues his growing affections for the young girls especially young Shridula.

The only defense to keep Boban Joseph at bay is the threat from the pale British woman who works at the only clinic in India tending to the sick and wounded no matter what caste of people need help. She has even offered to keep the abandoned and orphaned children who have no where else to turn. It seems however that the new Dr. William Cooper and his wife Susanna want things run differently, casting aside the Indian traditions for those more favored among the British. They even removed Miss Abigail Davidson from operating the English Mission Medical Clinic and treat her as though she is feeble, weak and too old. They even offer to have her sent to more suitable housing preferable to people of her age.

In the Hope of Shridula, the readers are thrown into the beginnings of the revolts for independence among the people of India as the teachings of Gandhi begin to circuit among the lower castes people providing them with an alternative to the years of servant hood that they have been reduced to. Once again you are given a rare look inside how difficult the lifestyles are among the people living in India and their beliefs in Karma and reincarnation while Christians struggle to provide an alternative for hope in this country in 1946.

I received this book compliments of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for my honest review and applaud the efforts once again of Kay Marshall Strom for bringing even more awareness to the plight of the people still living in India. While things are slowly improving, the struggle in the poorest areas still remains. Kay has been writing about humanitarian and justice issues and the global family of God in her books and has been to India seven times. This is the second book in the Blessings in India series and can't wait to read her next one. I highly recommend this book to once again enlighten readers to the plight of the people in India as well as other countries in the world and rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars. This book can be read as a stand alone but the impact is greater if you pick up the first one which really defines the castes in India. ( )