A Saga Set in the Bird Kingdom
Nita Berry
The Golden Ea by Deepak Dalal. Illustrations by Krishna Bala Shenoi Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, India, 2019, 150 pp., 250.00
July 2020, volume 44, No 7

Here is a gripping saga of intrigue and ambition, jealousy and compassion, spies and villains, secret caves and mysterious sky holes. Only, it is set in the bird kingdom and the drama begins in Rose Garden, the home of Shikar, the squirrel.

Sky bird Kabul, the bulbul, is on a secret mission fraught with dangers. She hurriedly explains the location of this mission to the scout birds, the two doves, Lovey and Dovey, before she leaves. However, she hasn’t noticed Mike, a shrike, who is a newcomer to the area, eavesdropping nearby, until it’s too late.

The scout birds are perturbed when Kabul doesn’t return from her mission. According to her instructions, if that happens, they must fly five days later to a lake set in the middle of a sky hole, which is a kind of crater. This would take them a couple of days to reach.

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