The Bandit Queens

* LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2023 * A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK 2023 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 . > 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