". . . a coming of age story of courage, survival and inner strength which illuminates the human condition in all its squalor and glory."--Vikas Swarup, writer of Slumdog Millionnaire

From Devastating Poverty and Childhood Trauma to International Standing

Rising from the slums of Calcutta, where Jillian Haslam and her family were forced to live after British colonization ended, A Voice out of Poverty traces the remarkable journey of this determined, and compassionate woman as she uses her story and her voice to speak for the poor and powerless.

Haslam first embodied her fierce will to never give up as a young girl, when she stood for hours at a tea shop, begging for a ladle of milk to keep her newborn sister from dying of starvation.

A Voice out of Poverty leaves the reader asking how someone so young had the tenacity to overcome so much--and then go back to face it all again in a passionate effort to spare others from the suffering that she endured and witnessed all around her growing up.

"It is no Cinderella story, but rather emphasizes hard work and sheer courage. Poverty, gender, and race are at the forefront of our problems--and indeed, problems worldwide." --Shachi Amdekar President, Cambridge University International Development Society, UK