Author : Sujata Massey
Genre : Mystery
Publisher : Soho Crime
Pages : 432
Rating : 4/5
Young Perveen Mistry has just joined her father’s law firm. Although she has her law degree Perveen cannot practice in the courtroom because of the current laws preventing women from being admitted to the bar. Perveen handles wills, contracts and other office work, and while doing so reads the documents for Mr. Farid’s will. Farid was a wealthy client and on his death his assets are to be split among his three wives, all of whom live in strict purdah. In the paperwork though, the three wives have signed over their inheritance to a wakf (charitable trust). Perveen is perturbed for the widows, because this signing away of their wealth could potentially mire them in penury.
Because the women are purdahnasheen, they will not speak to men outside of family. So while it is difficult for Perveen’s father to approach them, Perveen, the only female lawyer in all Bombay, can. As Perveen digs into the matter, she finds misinformation and deceit. She is threatened and attacked but persists; women’s rights are important to her as is plain justice.
This was such an entertaining book because of the description of the times – the culture, the people, society during the British occupation. I also read “Circling the Sun” around about the same time and it was fascinating to compare the lives of two women (McClain and Mistry) striving to make independent lives for themselves in very different societies during the 1920s, a time which curtailed women’s professional growth in favor of domesticity. Perveen, with her painful past, is a very interesting character. She is bright and bold, and supported by her forward thinking parents.
This is an engrossing mystery, although Massey’s writing can be clunky and the transitions abrupt. Still she keeps up the pace, peppering us with surprising discoveries, and mashing together past and present events coherently.Post-read I’m pleased to find that The Widows of Malabar Hill is the first of a series. I look forward to reading them all!
