Jasmine and Arnica

Many would balk at the idea of a white woman traveling India alone—and in particular, a blind woman. Throughout her childhood Nicola Naylor had been fascinated by images of the subcontinent and was determined both to realize her dream of visiting and to push back the stifling constraints imposed by perceptions of her disability. While depending on her third eye—or sixth sense—she explores India from the inside. Her account is both sensuous and enormously visual as she gradually rebuilds her shattered self-confidence, regains her desire to live life, and rediscovers her almost forgotten love of writing.