| |
The Diary of a Maidservant is a masterly representation of a sensitive young domestic servant and her world. Originally written in Hindi (Ek Naukrani Ki Diary), the novel sparkles with ironic humour, subtle insights, social relevance, and narrative brilliance.
Shano, the teenager protagonist, drops out of school to work as a domestic so that her indigent family can survive. At a casual suggestion from a sympathetic Biji, she begins to keep a record of her musings and doings. Gradually, she gets addicted to this habit and begins to enjoy probing her own mind and the motives of her various employers and fellow domestics. She begins to introspect and develop a deeper relationship with her own self in addition to analysing her experience of the external world. The reader watches the growth of a fine consciousness into self-awareness as well as the emergence of an entire milieu, seen from the point of a view of a precocious adolescent. Shanti alias Shano is an engaging addition to the gallery of great fictional heroines.
ISBN - 9780195691993
|
| |
|