Book description
A big, intensely involving and evocative Indian novel, with its story
of a woman's fight for her place in the world, reminiscent of Khaled
Hosseini's 'A Thousand Splendid Suns'.
The dew hasn't formally evaporated off the mustard leaves outside.
Except for the sleeping baby, she is alone at home. Her mother gave her
this much. As an excuse Lata Bai left Shanti behind for Mamta to look
after. She has an hour before her mother will return from the well.
Mamta runs her hand over her wedding sari. For a minute she considers
why it is already lying unwrapped, in precise folds gleaming like a
treasure in her mother's tin trunk, then she remembers her mother had
used the wrapping to deliver Shanti. She picks up a corner and looks
through the sheerness of the fabric. Everything turns red, the red of
love. Mamta smiles. It is as it should be. "Keep my world red, oh
Devi," she prays. "Jai ho Devi, Devi Jai ho," she recites
her mother's words. Almost a married woman, she feels she has an equal
right to them.'
Mamta is one of seven children and learns early on in her childhood
what it means to be born female in rural India. Married to a savagely
unkind and brutal husband, she flees to the city to try and make a new
life for herself. Sharing her story are her mother, Lata Bai, the
saintly Lokend, her ever-loving brother Prem, a soul-searching bandit
and a brutal landlord. This is a redemptive story, despite the often
unforgiving setting, and one that is difficult to put down.
