Bandit Queens set in India – Parini Shroff

Submitted: 13th February 2023

So this had a very interesting blurb –

For Geeta, life as a widow is more peaceful than life as a wife…Until the other women in her village decide they want to be widows, too.

I mean, right?

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The premise of this book grabbed me from the off but it was the fresh writing and the kick-ass plot that kept me gripped.

This is a novel with dark humour at its heart but oh there is so much more to this! Geeta is a woman who everyone avoids as her husband abandoned her. Never mind he was violent and abusive, she gets the blame. She gets called all kinds of names and people wonder why he left.Well, it must be her and her ways. Maybe she is a witch? You see how things go.

Geeta is not the only woman whose husband was/is a deadbeat however. Others start to see her misfortune as good luck. The women of the lower classes in India have little to no freedom so a slice, even if carved out of a dead man, is a slice of freedom.

I was shocked and fascinated to find out that there really was a bandit queen in India who lived in the late 20th century. Her name was Phoolan Devi. She was abused by men and got her revenge on them, not before championing the cause for other women and getting into parliament

What surprised me was the depth of the story. Yes, there is humor, mostly dark, but it’s so much more. It tackles the issues of childlessness, love, abuse of all kinds, and most importantly, women’s rights. Even now, women in India have very little independence, especially in the lower classes.

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What shines here is the character and the research in the woman who inspired the novel. Geeta is a woman to be reckoned with and it was a blast to meet her. Her world is a cruel one but it is so richly evoked here – from the language, to the colours and smells of the food, the scent of the street, the taste of the dust and the weariness in all of the women we meet.

There’s some great witty one liners and insights into women fighting the fight. I feel this novel needs a championing cry when it’s released.