From the back cover:

'Set around the time of Partition and written with absorbing intelligence and sympathy, Difficult Daughters is the story of a young woman torn between the desire for education and the lure of illicit love.'

Shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the Best First Book.

I especially enjoyed the first half of the book, the second half did start to draw out a bit.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Another one on its way to Germany - this one is part of the South Asian VBB.

Just received this in the mail.
Thank you, Dancesports!

A really good read, great complex character, about the role of women in India, about patriarchy, about a woman's struggle for independence.

Travelling with a VBB book to soffitta1. Hope you like it.

Thanks for the second book! This looks right up my street ;)

The author brings together three generations of women in what today are two countries: India and Pakistan. The book starts with a daughter at her mother's funeral, filled with conflicting emotions and the realisation that she didn't really know her mother. What comes next is her journey across India and Pakistan in search of some kind of closure, talking to family and friends and gathering information. The story of her search intermingles with that of her mother's story and that of her grandmother.

The three generations of women are very different. The grandmother has had some education, but is sent away from her family when she marries into a good Hindu one. Constantly pregnant, she relies more and more on her eldest daughter, Virmati. While Virmati does her duty, she is starving for some sign of affection from her mother, but none is forthcoming. Her mother is just too worn out to give of herself emotionally. Her daughter studies longer, despite her education being interrupted by family duty. She is encouraged by a visit of a glamorous city-dwelling cousin, who has chosen to study rather than marry. Defying the wishes of her parents, Virmati keeps on studying, putting off the date of her wedding more than once. When her aunt (and neighbour) takes in a lodger, the U.K.-educated Professor, her life is turned upside-down, torn between filial duty and love for a married man. Perhaps surprisingly we know least about the granddaughter, Ida, the original narrator of the book. She has clearly been unhappily married and estranged from her family, but we can only glean information from her reaction to her mother's story.

The most important them is that of women, their lives, their fate. Their only validation seems to come from marrying and having children, preferably sons. Those, even those from forward thinking families, who decide to continue their education, or even not to marry, are viewed with disappointment and suspicion. The granddaughter's own story shows that despite the time that has passed.

The situation of women can also be seen in the secondary characters. In Lahore, Virmati shares a room with an activist fighting against the coming Partition. She appears to be one of the few truly happy characters, somehow managing successfully juggle family and education. Her cousin is also an important role-model, stressing that women need to see education and a career as a choice not a last resort. Virmati's love rival is the Professor's wife, a barely literate woman chosen for him as a child. She tries to please her husband, a man who barely thinks of her, and understandably doesn't like the interloper. She tries to be a good wife, as she has been taught, sadly not realising that she can never satisfy him. Both women suffer at the hands of a man who wants his cake and to eat it, not caring about the consequences.

What is sad, for me, is the lack of communication between the women. You would hope that a mother would want her daughter to have a better life, a more satisfied existence, but the women presented here protect the long-standing traditions more than the men. It seems that tradition is more important, especially as the actions of a daughter affect her whole family.

A very interesting read, a portrait of one and then two countries through the lives of women. The struggle for independence and education in two countries finding their feet in the difficult post-Independence era. It definitely made me think, not only that, it made me take a long, hard look at the relationships between the women and generations in my family.

Left in the loos on the 2nd floor at the Macmillan Teachers' Day.