On a cold December morning in 1925, Vincent Fusilier finds Raji sleeping in his parents' barn. He thinks she's a vagrant and tells her she has to go. She doesn't understand English and doesn't know where she is, having recently escaped from a house in Queens New York where she had been held for the past nine years as an indentured servant. After Vincent leaves for school, Raji slips into his house to find something to eat. She peeks into the front room and is startled to see a man sitting in a wheelchair. He stares at her but apparently cannot move or speak.
Raji ran away from a house in Queens New York where she had been held as an indentured servant for the past nine years. She was kidnapped on the streets of Calcutta when she was five years old. Raji and several other girls were then shipped to New York City where she was sold to a wealthy Indian family to work as an indentured servant.
When Raji turns thirteen, the master of the house begins making advances toward her. After months of trying to get his hands on Raji, he slips into her bed. He is caught by his overbearing wife before anything happens, but she punishes Raji for her husband’s attempt at molesting her. Terrified about what might happen, she runs away. After hopping a freight train out of New York City, she rides the rails for two days before ending up in the Fusilier barn.
Fuse is fourteen in the winter of 1925 when he finds Raji sleeping in the hay. Thinking she’s a Gypsy because of her dark complexion, he tells her she has to leave. Raji, having never been allowed outside the Queens house and hearing only the Hindi language all her life, does not understand what Fuse is saying to her. She leaves, knowing from his demeanor and hand motions that he wants her to go away. However, she goes only as far as the nearby woods where she waits until Fuse leaves for school. The near-starving girl then returns to the farmhouse and, thinking no one it there, slips inside. In the kitchen, she wolfs down some bacon and biscuits. She peeks into the living room to see a man in a wheelchair.
Fuse is three years ahead of his grade level and is working hard to be accepted to the prestigious Octavia Pompeii Academy. The two-year prep school holds an annual competition in tennis and chess to determine the fifty best students to fill the new junior class. Only high school seniors with the best scholastic performance, or boys and girls with exceptional abilities, are invited to the competition.
Mr. Fusilier, Fuse’s father, was injured in a fall from the windmill and is now a quadriplegic. He is cared for during the day by a nurse. Fuse takes care of his father before and after school. The boy’s mother is in Africa working as a volunteer on a smallpox epidemic. She does not know about her husband’s accident.
When one of the Fusilier horses goes into labor late at night, Fuse is awakened by a loud pounding at his back door. He is surprised to find the girl standing at the door and jabbering in some foreign language. He thought she had gone away the day before, but apparently, she had been staying in the barn. Fuse finally realizes something is wrong and runs to see what the trouble is. The horse has a difficult birth, but the girl helps and then Fuse brings Raji into the house for breakfast, and to meet his father.
A chessboard is set up in the living room where Fuse has been practicing his game. Raji glances at the board and then moves one of the pieces. Fuse studies the board for a minute before realizing she has made the best possible move.
Soon Raji is helping care for Mr. Fusilier and beating Fuse in every game of chess they play. After each of them learns a few words of the other’s language, they begin to communicate quite well and Fuse discovers what has happened to Raji.
Raji has never been to school, but with the help of a first-grade book from the library, Fuse teaches her to read. At first, she has difficulty grasping the concept, but after a week of repetition, she masters the Dick and Jane book and then asks Fuse to bring more books.
Fuse tries to keep Raji’s presence a secret because he’s afraid the authorities will take her back to the house where she was held captive. Eventually she is discovered by two workers from a neighboring farm and the sheriff comes to take her away to jail. Fuse enlists the help of friends to get her out of jail.
Mrs. Fusilier is finally notified of her husband’s accident and she hurries home to take care of him. When Fuse tells his mother about Raji and what has happened to her, Mrs. Fusilier takes the girl under her wing. It doesn’t take long for Mrs. Fusilier to realize the girl is gifted and only needs guidance in her education.
In the end, both Fuse and Raji are invited to compete for entry into the academy. Neither of them does well in tennis, but they are both very good in the chess competition. Fuse wins many of his games, but Raji demolishes every one of her opponents.
When the names of the fifty new juniors are read off, Raji is number one, but Fuse is not in the top fifty.
Feeling that she has taken his place at the academy, Raji tells Fuse she will not accept the position. But he gives her a hug and tells her she is the best and it is her place, not his. Raji then goes up to the stage and joins the new junior class of the first school she has ever attended.
Excerpt
Raji remained silent as Fuse purchased the supplies at the grocery store, even though he knew she had lots of questions about the items in the store.
The steady clop-clop of Cleopatra's hooves were as the slow tick of a giant clock for Fuse. He went over everything again and again, thinking of all the clever things he could have said or done, and how he could have done a better job of standing up for Raji. Yes, it was true, she was reading Dick and Jane instead of Shakespeare, but her keen intellect was worth a hundred shallow and suggestive remarks from any other girl.
They were half way home when he felt Raji slip her arms around his waist and lay her head against his back. "What is round box from store, with girl pictured in rain falling?" Her voice was soft, like a kitten mewing.
Fuse smiled and let out a long breath, as if he had held it for the past two hours, and perhaps he had. "Salt."
Professional Reviews
Evie Alexis
Never before have I read a single work of fiction that addresses familial relationships, teenage angst, racism, corporate corruption and multiculturalism; that is, until I read Ariion Kathleen Brindley’s moving novel, Raji.
The story of a runaway teen discovered in a hardworking adolescent’s farm seems common enough, but upon reading one discovers the novel filled with an indescribable depth and maturity lacking in so many of today’s contemporary stories targeted towards our youth.
Told in third person, the reader gets the perspective of the protagonists, Vincent Fusilier – better known as Fuse – and Rajiani Navana Devaki, and one would be hard pressed not to fall for the charms found in each unique character. Incredibly mature for their age, they are both united by hardships teenagers should not have to know. Both possess dedication and loyalty to family and friends, and are highly gifted, Raji in particular. Her acquisition of two languages should motivate any second (and third) language learner.
As the reader delves more into Fuse’s world, an entire host of colorful characters are introduced. There is the warm and passionate Julia Smithers, a nurse who watches after Fuse’s invalid father, William, Julia’s caring and helpful son, and Doctor Octavia Pompeii, a small but fiery woman who sets things in motion for the youngsters. When all the characters are present in one room, the emotions jump from the page. The novel would be incomplete without the rakes and thugs, who add their own worth to this novel, reminding the reader how corruption and greed can ruin the best of men.
Brindley has created a timelessly sensitive novel. The profundity of this story took me by surprise, and I savored the underlying message: our differences only separate us if we choose them to. Much can be learned by the friendship between Fuse and Raji. True romantic that I am, I found them united by much more than just friendship, but that’s just my take.
This story should be added to the Recommended Reading list for the general public.
Jill at Frugal Plus
Fuse and Raji are brought together by teenage hardships, and a horse named, Handsome Randsom. Animals always have a way of paving a path of friendship. Both are mature beyond their adolescent years. Fuse is going to school, helping take care of his chronically ill father, and making sure that everything is taken care of on the farm. Raji is having to deal with terrible discrimination on almost a daily basis, learning the English language with the help of Fuse while teaching him a few words of Hindi at the same time, and deciphering her own beliefs and opinions of India’s cultures.
The other characters bring a piquant flavor ..
Julia Smithers, a nurse who watches after Fuse’s father, William, Julia’s helpful son, and Doctor Octavia Pompeii, a small-framed, caring but fiery woman.
You will take from this book lessons to be learned, strength, and friendship. I will be passing this Novel on to my daughter to read!
A Special Thanks goes out to Ariion for the opportunity to review this Novel on what a true friendship should be about.
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