Book details

Astha has everything an educated, middle-class Delhi woman could ask for - children, a dutiful loving husband, and comfortable surroundings. So why should she be consumed with a sense of unease and dissatisfaction? Astha finds herself embarking on a powerfully physical relationship with a much younger woman, Pipee, the widow of a political activist. But with this extra-marital affair is she foolishly jeopardizing everything - or is Astha at last throwing off the fear and timidity instilled in her by her parents, her husband, her social class? Manju Kapur, celebrated author of the prize-winning Difficult Daughters, has written a seductive and beautifully honest story of love and betrayal, set at a time of on-going political and religious upheaval. Told with great sympathy and intelligence, and without a shred of sentimentality, A Married Woman is a story for anyone who has felt trapped by life's responsibilities.

Manju Kapur is the author of four novels. Her first, Difficult Daughters, received tremendous international acclaim, won the Commonwealth Prize for First Novels (Eurasia Section), and was a number one bestseller in India. Her most recent novel, The Immigrant, was called 'intensely readable' in the Daily Mail and 'admirable and enjoyable' by the Guardian, and has been longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. She lives in New Delhi.