THE SONGSEEKERS -Saswati Sengupta
With its subversive feminist thrust and persistent questioning of what constitutes religion, tradition and culture, Saswati Sengupta's debut novel The Song Seekers is sure to strike a chord. It is a poignant exploration of the lives of women in Indian society transcending time and space. Weaved around mystery and laced with beautiful poems throughout, this makes for a perfect unputdownable read. Set in the turbulent 1960s in Bengal, the novel revolves around the life of newly wed Uma, an English Literature graduate from Miranda House, as she steps into the threshold of her marital home Kailash, the ancestral mansion of the highly reputed Chattopadhyay family of Calcutta. Even as she tries to find her footing in a new, unfamiliar world, Uma is intrigued by the shadows that seem to linger in the sprawling mansion; her husband’s silence about his mother’s death, the presence of the enigmatic green-eyed Pishi, a few old letters kept safely in her father-in-law’s bedsi