Starred review from January 22, 2024
In Kapur’s stunning debut novel, twin sisters Jaya and Kamlesh Malhotra dare to pursue their creative ambitions in 1950s Bombay (present-day Mumbai) despite the threat of ruining their family’s reputation and their chances of securing good marriages. Their father, a former government servant who’s currently managing a glass factory on the city’s periphery, has carefully crafted their futures: Jaya is set to become a doctor and Kamlesh a teacher. However, Jaya puts more energy into her extracurricular sketchwork than her pre-med studies, while Kamlesh’s Bharatanatyam class fuels her interest in dance. Prior to Jaya’s first drawing exhibition, she makes the outrageous—for an unmarried woman—decision to leave home and move in with her mentor, while Kamlesh dances onstage and stars in a film despite knowing the Punjabi community will disapprove (“If you were a girl onstage, in public, if you gave others a view of your body—your being—you were dishonorable. Shameless. That’s how others saw you. A whore,” Kapur writes). Kapur perfectly conveys the twins’ attempts to find their purpose while defying the expectations of a turbulent post-partition Indian society. This is a beautiful exploration of the hardships endured by women artists. Agent: Julie Stevenson, Massie & McQuilkin.
