A powerful story of loss and identity, home and family, Tamarind and the Star of Ishta weaves a family mystery together withadventure and wonder from Costa Award Winner author, Jasbinder Bilan.

Tamarind has never met her Indian mother, Chinty, who died shortly after she was born. But when her father remarries, Tamarindis sent to India to stay with the family she has never met, in their atmospheric ancestral home—a huge mansion high in theHimalaya mountains.Her arrival in India brings culture shock, secrets, and unanswered questions: What is the tension between her father and thefamily, and why will no one talk about her mother? Instead of answers, she is greeted with ominous silence.Taking refuge in the lush gardens one moon-lit night, she follows a friendly monkey to find an abandoned hut and a glowing starring, and meets Ishta, a mysterious mountain girl. Tamarind unravels the mysteries of the house alongside the search for her ownidentity.