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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Some
Domestic abuse in backstory; some confrontation and physical threat
Language
Barely any
Mild language throughout
Sexual Content
Some
An arrangement between Lakshmi and a patron; adult relationships navigated with discretion
Substance Use
None
No substance use
Emotional Intensity
A lot
Survival in a patriarchal society, the cost of independence, a complicated and unexpected sisterhood
What this book is about
1950s Jaipur. Lakshmi escaped a brutal husband and rebuilt herself as Jaipur's most sought-after henna artist — confidante to the wealthy women of the city. When her husband reappears with a teenage sister Lakshmi never knew existed, everything she's built is threatened. Alka Joshi's richly detailed debut traces a woman's fierce fight for independence in post-partition India, where a woman without a husband exists in a precarious space between castes and worlds.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
domestic abuse in backstory
patriarchal constraints on women in 1950s India
class and caste dynamics
Reader Verification
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