The Bandit Queens
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023
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3.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2023
A BBC Radio 2 Book Club Pick 2023
'Not since Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger has the rotten core of modern India been exposed in quite such blackly antic fashion as Parini Shroff manages here in this intermittently absurd, feminist revenge caper about a group of snarky, much-abused, predominantly Hindu wives...sheer gutsy verve.' The Times
'A darkly funny revenge drama rooted in the reality of rural India . . . [A] vivid, unsentimental story that succeeds in being both satirical and moving.' Guardian
'A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women' - New York Times
'Mordantly humoured, pacey feminist revenge thriller' - The Sunday Times
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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.
Geeta is believed to have killed her vanished husband - a rumour she hasn't bothered trying to correct, because a reputation like that can keep a single woman safe in rural India. But when she's approached for help in ridding another wife of her abusive drunk of a husband, her reluctant agreement sets in motion a chain of events that will change the lives of all the women in the village....
A darkly irreverent and fresh take on a feminist revenge thriller, perfect for readers of My Sister the Serial Killer, How To Kidnap The Rich and the Sharon Horgan series Bad Sisters.
'Tender, unpredictable, brimming with laugh-out-loud moments' Téa Obreht, author of THE TIGER'S WIFE
'Original, memorable, and endearing' Charmaine Wilkerson, author of BLACK CAKE
'A rollicking mash-up of adventure story, thriller, dark revenge, and comedy' Cristina García, author of DREAMING IN CUBAN
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Shroff's acerbic debut, a woman helps other women escape their abusive marriages in their small village in India, often through murder. Geeta's unearned reputation for having killed her physically abusive husband, Ramesh (he's not dead, he just ran off), prompts women to approach her for help. It's a fortuitous development for Geeta, who's become socially isolated after a fight with her lifelong friend Saloni, who's part of the microloan group that funds Geeta's jewelry business. As well, Geeta admires the legendary Bandit Queen, who exacted revenge on those who'd wronged her, and agrees to help a local named Farah kill her husband (Farah's first attempt backfired because she mistook hair growth pills for sleeping pills). Geeta also connects with widower Karem, a bootlegger, though not before costing him his livelihood by putting a stop to Karem's biggest buyer, Bada-Bhai (Bada-Bhai was cutting the booze with methanol and testing it on dogs, and Geeta frees the dogs). After Geeta adopts Bada-Bhai's sickest dog, whom she names Bandit, she begins allowing others into her life, including Saloni, which helps after Ramesh resurfaces. Shroff deals sharply with misogyny and abuse, describing the misery inflicted as well as its consequences in unflinching detail, and is equally unsparing in her depictions of mean-girl culture in the village. Readers are in for a razor-stuffed treat.
