A Woman Burnt

Revathi, a headmaster's daughter with an engineering degree, fell in love with Ravi, an auto-rickshaw driver from a lower caste, and married him quietly against her family's wishes. Her father and brother cut her off as a stain on the family's standing; only her mother and sister-in-law kept in touch. Six years later a phone call brings the family to the burns unit of JIPMER in Puducherry, where Revathi lies with terrible burns. Almost the whole novel unfolds in and around the ward, among guarded doctors and nurses, as relatives keep vigil and argue over whether she is a victim or the woman who shamed them. Their talk lays bare the caste, class and gender prejudices of Tamil society, and the hypocrisy of the family's idea of honour.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form

Novel

Length

222 pages in the original

Genres

Family (assigned by AI)

Set in

India

First published

2018 by Cre-A

Author's age

54 when first published

ISBN

9789382394280 (original)

9789392099816 (Simon & Schuster India, India)