Jayashri is an imaginary girl who wasn’t part of my original story plan.

My original plan was to write a novel about a talented young musician and single-mom, Ally, running from her traumatic past — a story that what would become Her Memory of Music. Into the tale came Rees, a troubled, American human-trafficking investigator home on furlough from his work in India. It was as I wrote his story that Jayashri popped into the picture. Boy, did she.

Jayashri became a teenage girl who had been rescued from the brothels of Mumbai—but not without price. Suffering from PTSD (as trafficking victims do) she came to claim much of Rees’ attention as he worked to see her healed and whole again, finding healing for his own wounds in the process.

When I began writing Her Memory of Music, I’d meant for Jayashri to be a mere mention, a tiny slice of Ally and Rees’ story. But the more I researched what it meant to be Jayashri—and the more real-life investigators and psychologists I interviewed—the more I realized Jayashri could not remain a footnote.

Beyond that, I realized that, knowing what I now knew, I could not remain still or silent. That even though Jayashri was a product of my imagination, she represented millions of girls who are very, very real. Understanding what these girls endure on their way to rescue and healing prompted me to want to do something to keep real-life girls out of the trafficking trade.

That’s how I first came to sponsor through a well-known non-profit a little girl in India who is exactly my own daughter’s age. I started sponsoring Kajal when she was a toddler. Today, she is a lovely young woman on the brink of adulthood. She is safe, healthy, and knows she is loved. Unlike Jayashri, she will not be forced to into trafficking in order for her family to survive.

Today our family continues to sponsor Kajal, as well as several other children on various continents. What’s more, my desire to take action prompted me to serve as an ambassador for that non-profit for several years.

This led me to where I am now. Encouraged by my interaction with an IJM associate as I researched Her Memory of Music, I’ve now become a champion for International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a global organization partnering with local justice systems to end violence against people living in poverty. In order to further their work, not only do I champion their cause but I also I donate to IJM profits from sales of my books, Her Memory of Music and Shadow Sister. 

Why IJM? Because my first-hand experience with them has shown me that I can trust them to steward my funds well, to carry out their mission in the name of Jesus Christ, and to best help vulnerable girls and women like those we meet in the pages of my books.

[spoiler alert] In Her Memory of Music, Ally and Rees find their happy ending and help Jayashri find hers. In real life, thanks to the work of IJM, I am privileged to be a part of doing the same for girls like Jayashri.

Read more about my partnership with IJM here. 

If you are inspired by Jayashri’s story, I hope you’ll join me in helping to change how another real-life story ends.

Here’s how:

• Help eliminate violence against women living in poverty by donating directly to IJM.
• Purchase Her Memory of Music or Shadow Sister. I donate profits from every purchase to IJM, so every time you buy, you help protect a woman or child living in poverty. Buy signed copies here. 

~ Katherine xo

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