Difficult Daughters

by Manju Kapur

Book Overview

Set around the time of Partition and written with absorbing intelligence and sympathy, Difficult Daughters is the story of a young woman torn between the desire for education and the lure of illicit love. Virmati, a young woman born into a high-minded household, falls in love with a neighbour, the Professor - a man who is already married. That the Professor eventually marries Virmati, installs her in his home alongside his furious first wife...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0571260640
• ISBN13: 9780571260645
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Insight into India

This was the first book I ever read by an Indian author & I loved it! The descriptors were vivid & textured & you could feel the scenes portrayed! The ending was a little dissappointing, but the rest of the book made up for it. I'd give the book 4.5 stars if I could. I highly reccomend it.

The Oppression of Indian Women.

Out of all the books I have read so far in my life there are two book characters which will always stay close to my heart. The first is Sampath in 'Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard' by Kiran Desai and the second is Virmati in 'Difficult Daughters'. I loved the quote by Swarna Lata to Virmati- "men do take advanatge of women". After I finished this novel, I was saying to myself- Thank God for the Feminist Movement!!! Thank you to Manju Kapur for writing such a fine novel!

Beautifully written!!!!!!!!!

All I get for Christmas are books! Of the ten books I did get this was my absolute favorite. The prose is clear and lucid, and the story keeps ya going way into the night. Two other books I deeply recommend are: Jay Singh's The Butterfly: a Fable and Shauna Singh Baldwin's What the Body remembers. Both will touch you and change you for ever.

Complex issues for daughters who want to chose their own way

After reading the reviews of this book, I bought it myself and read it. I found that all the reviewers had really covered the book throughly. All that I can add is that again allows us to see inside another culture. I have yet to read a story where a planned marriage has turned out badly, but I am sure they have. But Virmati certainly proves that chosing for oneself is not without mistake. I think that the Professor was totally wrong to influence this young woman. What a cad! Her family was totally unsuspecting of a man of this nature and had done little to educate her in the ways of devious men.A good read!

a wonderful read

Set during the partition, this book is about a young girl, Virmati and the difficult decisions she has to make with her life. Virmati is a wonderfully complex character simply because she loses everything she has for something she thinks she wants. Like a typical woman, she gives up everything for the man she loves, not realizing that what she wants may not be what's best for her. The book ends without the traditional Indian "happy ending" but still there's something good there... even though Virmati is not as happy as she probably thought she would be, she made her own decisions... even if it might have been the wrong one. This book will really make you think.