Super Short Summary

Rice Without Rain, a young-adult historical novel by Minfong Ho, is set in Thailand during a severe drought in 1976 and follows Jinda and her family of rice farmers in a poor village. Revolutionary students from Thammasat University visit their farm, spreading communist ideals, which leads Jinda's father to defy their landlord, resulting in his imprisonment. Jinda travels to Bangkok to protest his detention, faces political violence, and ultimately decides between a life with revolutionary Ned or returning to her rural roots.