<p>Across Borders is Shuvashree Chowdhury&rsquo;s debut novel. It is the story of Maya &mdash; a girl born in a small town in the north-east state of Assam in pre-Independence India &mdash; her trials and tribulations, starting with her father&rsquo;s second marriage. It maps Maya&rsquo;s angst at his desertion of her mother and two sisters, followed by her being brought up by an uncle &mdash; a renowned industrialist and philanthropist &mdash; in his boarding school near Dhaka.</p><p>The novel tracks Maya&rsquo;s leaving Dhaka after the 1964 riots: With a vivid delineation of her being evacuated by army personnel from the college hostel, to seeking refuge in a Muslim home for three months, before returning to India in the hope of finding a life she can finally call her own &mdash; but does she?</p><p>In telling the story of a girl caught between a highly patriarchal society and political conflict, Across Borders offers a gripping depiction of circumstances surrounding the Bangladesh War of Liberation and a young girl&#39;s memories of the trauma surrounding the communal riots leading up to it.</p>