Growing up as a girl in the Vedic age is anything but easy - and even harder for the future Queen of Hastinapur, the kingdom of all kingdoms. She must contend with magic islands, difficult sages, calculating foster parents, sexual awakening and loneliness. Even when she is at the threshold of the capital, King Shantanu, smitten though he is with her, already has a crown prince from his marriage with a goddess. Young Satyavati must walk on thorns to reach her destiny in a world ruled by men. One of young India’s most feisty voices, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, coaxes the lesser-known girls of the Mahabharata out of the shadows.