Readers, I imagine a title like today's Pre Pub Book Buzz pick brings to mind a certain kind of read. I mean Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows... a title like that is going to draw your attention, that's for sure!
It certainly grabbed my attention. As did the absolutely fabulous cover and the description, all of which earned it an immediate spot at the top of my must read list.
Every woman has a secret life . . .
Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she's spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father's death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London's close-knit Punjabi community.
Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected and exciting kind.
As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community's "moral police." But when the widows gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife a modern woman like Nikki and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.
Here's a bit about the book from Goodreads:
Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she's spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father's death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of London's close-knit Punjabi community.
Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected and exciting kind.
As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community's "moral police." But when the widows gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife a modern woman like Nikki and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.
This is not Balli Kaur Jaswal's debut, but it is the first of her titles to come to my attention and I think you'll agree that it sounds amazing!
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is out in the States in June from William Morrow and in the UK in March from HarperCollins UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment