This month on our Relaxing Reads podcast hosts Ann, Deb and Simone discuss The Most Precious Substance On Earth by Shashi Bhat. A humorous coming-of-age novel and a sharp-edged look at how silence can shape a life.
Nina, a bright, hilarious, and sensitive 14-year-old, doesn’t say anything when her best friend begins to pull away, or when her crush on her English teacher intensifies. She doesn’t say anything when her mother tries to match her up with local Halifax Indian boys unfamiliar with her Saved by the Bell references, or when her worried father starts reciting Hindu prayers outside her bedroom door.
And she won’t speak of the incident in high school that changes the course of her life.
On her tumultuous path from nineties high school student to present-day high school teacher, Nina will learn difficult truths about existing as a woman in the world.