Munni At My Doorstep
A Novel
by Nargis Abraham

---

The setting could be anytime, anywhere in the world, and the protagonist could be any single working woman. Here, the protagonist is Clara Ferguson, a Scottish spinster missionary in British India of the 1890s. One night, a frantic woman pounds on her door and abandons an infant at her feet. What should she do? Such is Clara’s dilemma. The novel opens on this night. Even though she learns about the dangers of keeping baby Esther (Munni), Clara decides to do just that. There follows stigma, covert and overt prejudice, and real danger from a birth family bent on eliminating the child. While Esther is told that she is adopted, Clara doesn’t tell her about the birth family until it is too late. The narrative unfolds against the backdrop of colonial British rule, reigning maharajas, epidemic and famine in India, and the First World War and Spanish ‘flu in the British Isles. The focus is on Clara’s relationship with her adopted daughter as they navigate their circumstances. “Munni At My Doorstep” is an intriguing, humane historical fiction novel where transracial adoption overcomes cross-cultural prejudice.

---

Nargis Abraham has been a writer—and taught the craft of writing—for most of her working life. She began work in advertising, then moved into teaching: at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, and at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in Burnaby, BC, Canada. She has published a few non-fiction articles and enjoys the challenge of creative writing. She lives with her husband in Coquitlam, BC, Canada.

---

Contributors

Author

Nargis Abraham

---

FriesenPress Editions

---

---