First published 2021
Mehar stands with two other young women in rural Punjab, 1929. All three have just married brothers in a single ceremony. None knows which husband belongs to her. At night, each wife meets a man in complete darkness, hoping to bear him a son. During daylight hours, the women perform their duties while confined to the porcelain room, where their mother-in-law Mai stores her dowry treasures. When Mehar falls in love with one of the brothers, her passion ignites a dangerous affair that threatens multiple lives. Seventy years later, Mehar's great-grandson travels from England to an abandoned Indian farm. He discovers the barricaded porcelain room and must confront both his inner demons and the hidden family history that shaped his bloodline.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: forbidden-love, secrets, unreliable-narrator
Setting: India, Punjab, England
Period: 1929, 1990s
256 pages · Hardcover · Hamish Hamilton- penguin India