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Can a young woman ever know his friends and laugh with them in that rueful way? How will a young woman know that he breathes deeply when he thinks too much, that he wipes his forehead in the cold heart of winter when the British settlement officer approaches to collect his yearly taxes? How can a young woman know how to manage his flour mill while he is hunting kakar with his English "superiors"? How will she know how to give orders that sound as if she is a mere mouth for his words? How will she know that his voice is angry with the servants only when he is tired or hungry? How can she understand that all his talk of logic and discipline in the English people's corridors and his writing in brown paper files about the great boons of irrigation engineering brought by the conquerors are belied by his donations to the freedom-fighting Akali party?The rift between the two wives widens when Roop gives birth, first to a daughter and then to a son, and both children are sent to Satya for rearing. Eventually the younger wife demands the ouster of the elder from the household, and Satya is sent away. But her spirit is not exiled entirely, and years later, when Roop and Sardarji find themselves swept up in the bloody partition of India and Pakistan, it is memories of the elder woman's strength and wisdom that Roop draws on to survive. Baldwin develops her characters' personalities and interactions against the backdrop of changing Anglo-Indian relations; sometimes the political bleeds into the personal, as the novel juxtaposes India's struggle for independence with the smaller outrages and betrayals Satya and Roop suffer at their husband's hands--and each other's. What the Body Remembers is a powerful combination of historical and domestic drama, marking a promising debut for Shauna Singh Baldwin. --Sheila Bright
Set in the twilight of the Raj, this internationally acclaimed historical novel tells the story of the Partition of India through the eyes of the two wives of a wealthy Sikh. Sixteen-year-old Roop is elated when she discovers that she will marry Oxford-educated Sardarji. But Sardarji's first wife is humiliated and enraged by his secret marriage to a village girl who is as fertile as she is barren. Pretending to be solicitous of her young rival, Satya takes charge of Roop's children and secretly plots her downfall.
Domestic politics rival India's volatile national politics as both women risk all I nthe escalating tension.
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: New. New For More Information On Condition. Please See All Photos. It?S 1937, And With Her Father In Debt, Motherless 16-Year-Old Roop Learns She Is To Become The Second Wife Of Sardarji, A Wealthy Sikh Landowner Whose First Wife, Satya, Has Failed To Bear Him A Child. Roop Believes That The Strong-Willed Satya Will Treat Her As A Sister, But Their Relationship Swiftly Becomes Ominous And Complicated. What The Body Remembers Is Satya?S Story. Mortified When Sardarji Marries Roop, Satya Resorts To Desperate Measures To Maintain Her Place In Society And Her Husband?S Heart. Sardarji Himself Struggles As The India He Knows Begins To Change When Separatist Tensions Between Hindus And Muslims Trap The Sikhs In A Horrifying Middle Ground, And The Departing British Prepare To Divide The Land Into India And Pakistan. Seller Inventory # 002767
Book Description Condition: New. Buy with confidence! Book is in new, never-used condition. Seller Inventory # bk0676973183xvz189zvxnew
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0676973183-new