The next book to be featured on the Zoe Ball Radio 2 Book Club will be The Bandit Queens, an exciting debut novel by Parini Shroff. The book was released on 2 March and Parini will be on the show with Zoe on Tuesday 28 March.
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We have an exclusive extract available for you to read.
The Bandit Queens
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…
Selection panel review
The book was selected with the help of a panel of library staff from across the UK. Our readers loved The Bandit Queens – here are some of their comments:
“This wonderful debut novel gripped me from its terse opening sentence. It’s a vibrant, often disturbing, insight into attitudes towards women in 21st century India. The author navigates female friendships, caste, social status and tension between Hindu and Muslim communities with assured writing. There are some darkly comic moments, which are juxtaposed with a tentative relationship that develops between Geeta and widowed Muslim businessman. I loved Bandit, the street dog that Geeta adopts – canine behaviour perfectly captured. The final two chapters of the novel are explosive and deeply satisfying, with Geeta embodying the mythical churel (the woman wronged). And a perfect final sentence to a multi-faceted novel that offers so much for reading group discussion.”
“I loved this book! The main protagonist was an extremely well fleshed out character – she and the rest of the cast felt real. I enjoyed learning about Indian life, beliefs, customs, and traditions which formed the set pieces for an absurd tale of murder, blackmail, and domestic violence. There were moments in this book that had me chuckling to myself but by the end I was laughing aloud at the surreal situations taking place. I think a book group would find a lot of topics worth discussing in this title, such as women’s rights, relationships, crime, societal bias, and Indian culture. I will be keeping my eye out for Parini Shroff’s next title.”
“This book was very well-written with a strong, interesting and well-paced plot. The characters are very well written and I very much enjoyed discovering more about them, particularly the protagonist, Geeta, and her relationships with Saloni and Ramesh, and the consequent change in her character and outlook. This evolution of character was subtle but very engaging. This is a book I could barely put down. I loved the setting in India, I loved the language used and the references and explanations regarding modern Indian culture. Although I have never been to India I could relate very well to Geeta, and I felt almost as if I was there watching the events unfold. Absolutely brilliant book and I do hope Parini Shroff writes more.”
“I loved this dark comedy about the oppression of women in India, not just in gender but in caste too. The women were funny in their interactions with each other even though the story covers dark topics. The comedic element of the book certainly made the book lighter otherwise it would have been a very depressing read and I may not have read it. However, it does deal with important themes such as; patriarchy and gender, race, caste discrimination, rapists, child abusers, ostracization. I learned a lot about Indian culture and the fact that women have very few rights and their life is determined by their caste. I had also never heard of Phoolan Devi who was a real person who lived a harrowing life. The story is twisting and turning and new characters are introduced into the antics of the women. It is heavy on plot but never feels preachy or takes things too lightly. I loved all the characters, especially the main character who could not lie to save her life. The scene at the police station was hilarious and made me laugh out loud a lot (my colleagues kept coming into the staff room to see if I was ok). All the women had fantastic ranges and the reader got to see the good and bad in them. And importantly the good and the bad in the men that they interacted with as well.”
About the author
Parini Shroff is a graduate of Loyola Law School and hold an MFA from the University of Texas in Austin. Her work has appeared in journals such as Southern Humanities Review, Salamander and MacGuffin, among others. Her interested include reading in the bathtub with wine, concerts and boxing. The Bandit Queens is her debut novel.
Get involved
Tune in to the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show to hear the live feature on Tuesday 28 March. You can also listen to the full-length interview on BBC Sounds.
Have you read The Bandit Queens? You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter using #R2BookClub and you can also follow Parini.
Planning to buy The Bandit Queens for your group? Buy books from Hive or from Bookshop.org and support The Reading Agency and local bookshops at no extra cost to you.
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