Author spotlight: Rebecca Ahlen

Rebecca Ahlen is 39 years old and grew up in Germany. Early in life she was drawn to faraway places and lived near New York City and in Barcelona, among others. While working in India she came up with the idea for her first novel. Currently she is working as an engineer in Hamilton, New Zealand, and spends her free time with her family and writing books.

More information about Rebecca Ahlen's travels and other book projects can be found on her homepage: www.kultur-flieger.de

Though you'll have to switch the translate button as Rebecca is awesome and speaks more than just English.

It doesn´t look like a Bollywood movie at all ... Bianca imagined her first job as a civil engineer differently. When she gets the opportunity to work for a year at a vocational school in India, she takes the chance and quits her job in Nuremberg. On arrival, she is confronted with two unknown worlds. On the one hand she is enchanted by India, on the other hand she discovers the emigrant city of Auroville. These two worlds do not seem to fit together, and Bianca is not sure whether she belongs in either. She dives deeper into Indian culture when she meets a young Tamil, and their relationship grows closer. But she quickly reaches her limits and asks herself whether it was a good idea to give up her life for the foreign country. "The Colour of the Sari" tells of a close encounter with India. Bianca's journey takes the reader to festivals and markets, to an Indian school and a city full of alternatives, to temples, weddings, and immerses them in everyday Indian life. Bianca not only learns about a foreign culture; she also learns a lot about herself.