Mitali Perkins was born in Kolkata, then lived in Cameroon, Ghana, Mexico, London and New York before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she studied political science at Stanford University and public policy at U.C. Berkeley. Her books include Monsoon Summer, The Not-So-Star-Spangled Life of Sunita Sen, Rickshaw Girl, The Secret Keeper and Bamboo People. She now lives in Newton, Massachusetts, with her husband and sons, and ruminates about life, writing and books between cultures at www.mitaliperkins.com.