Daughter of Luharu - Monica Sudhir Gupta

Author: Monica Sudhir Gupta

Genre: Indian Historical Fiction

Rating: 3.75 stars.

In a Nutshell: An interesting novel that begins in historical India and covers a large range of serious themes. It’s a bit over-ambitious but a worthy debut work.

Story:

Luharu, Haryana. A small village located near what is now the Indo-Pak border. The story begins in 1920s India with eight year old Rohinee, the daughter of a rich landowner, getting ready for her wedding day. With happy dreams in her eyes, the little girl is sent off to her sixteen year old husband’s home, where her future turns out quite unlike what she had been told about married life. With a Gandhian husband who is absent most of the time, a dominating mother-in-law, and a rigid and laborious housework schedule, Rohinee accepts the hard times as her fate. But when history seems to be repeating itself a couple of decades later, Rohinee has to decide whether to be quiet or finally speak up. Will the daughter of Luharu be able to provide justice to the other daughters of Luharu?

The plot is set against the background of rural India under British colonial rule, covers the freedom struggle, independence, the partition and life in post-independence India.

The story comes to us in the first person perspective of Rohinee.

The historical insights offered by the book are thought-provoking and impactful. Life for a woman in rural India has hardly ever been a cakewalk, and this book depicts the struggles well. It also throws light on many rituals and beliefs of the Haryanvi culture, lending a touch of authenticity to the proceedings. There are some stimulating lines in the book, which will certainly make you pause and ponder.

Many of the characters will leave a mark. Prime among these will be Bibi, the Muslim maid in Rohinee’s paternal house, and Rohinee herself, whose courage and cowardice are fairly balanced in the story. It is a women-oriented book all the way, but the male characters do the best they can in the limited space reserved to them.

For a debut novel, the book sure covers a lot of difficult themes: child marriage, domestic abuse, mental abuse, miscarriages, pressure to have sons, impotency, rape, religious differences, caste and class discrimination, bigotry, superstitions, violent vs non-violent acts of resistance and rebellion,… Some of these topics make for uncomfortable reading, but they are a sad truth of our country’s past (a few of these issues exist even now) and must be acknowledged. At the same time, I wish the book also covered at least some part of history positively. This does happen towards the very end but by then, my mind was saturated of the dreariness. The ending is too hurried and tried very hard to give a happy finale to all the earlier issues, thus making it seem farfetched. I would have appreciated a more gradual and a more realistic finale.

The writing is pretty impressive for a debut novelist. The author is a creative writing coach, so this shouldn’t be surprising. There are just two things that I felt could have worked better in this aspect. One, I would have appreciated a clear reference to the time period, especially but not only at the start of the book. We know that it is taking place in historical India but knowing the year/decade right at the start makes a big difference to our understanding of the events. Later in the story, there are random mentions of the time period but the story often jumps a few months or years and it is tough to figure out the jump until a direct mention. Secondly, the first person usage sounds odd a few times, especially when Rohinee is young. Like this line when Roheeni is 8: "As I ran around the room, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. A child stared back at me. A child who wanted to have fun at her own wedding..." It doesn’t sound like an eight year old’s thought. When she's 11, Rohinee uses the word “micturate”, which, considering her illiteracy, is highly unlikely. There is one instance of breaking the fourth wall, which comes out of nowhere. All of these are minor areas of improvement and don’t take away much from the effectiveness of the story.

Overall, this is still a valiant first effort, casting light on a topic not often approached by contemporary writers. Definitely recommended to those who enjoy Indian historical fiction.

My thanks to the Himalayan Book Club for a complimentary copy of “Daughter of Luharu”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.