It’s quite easy to imagine the kind of reaction this tall, stately lady might have evoked as she worked in the rice fields of south India and walked down congested slums, all in an effort to document stories revealing the lives of the Dalit or untouchable women in India. “I would listen to my i-pod and break into jigs much to the amazement of the people around me. Slowly, they would join me too, giving me a tip or two on the Indian style of dancing,” she says.

But life wasn’t all about impromptu jigs for this MIND Book award winner. Recording such experiences as working in rice fields and living in slums, she also decided to include oral histories and cover a wide range of topics, including dowry burnings, marriages, beggars, human traffickers, and political and social activists in her book. “Dalit is a very political term. You cannot use it without keeping its connotations in mind,” she adds.

Which is why the title of the book seemed a “bit too provocative” to the author. “But my publishers reminded me that the issue had to be addressed in a very pointed manner,” says Valerie. Her first autobiographical novel, Borrowed Body (2005) was considered to be provocative too. It narrated the trials and tribulations of a young black girl of Nigerian descent, growing up in white foster homes and orphanages. “I bring in a lot of my experiences in my book,” she states.

Her identity as a “Black-British woman” helped her empathise with the caste issue in India. “Though I believe that racism and caste issues are definitely not synonymous, they do resonate each other,” she adds.