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Author: Jyotsna Sreenivasan

The Curse of the Flores Women, by Angelica Lopes

The Curse of the Flores Women, by Angelica Lopes

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In the early 1900s, women in a fictional small town in Brazil gather to make lace. Their lace becomes popular and the women begin earning money, which is especially helpful to one family, nicknamed “Flores” after their flower garden. Because of a supposed curse, these women are unlucky with men—their husbands die or leave them, and male children die young. But the lace allows them to support themselves. In 2010 a young woman, Alice, in Rio de Janeiro receives a…

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The Most, by Jessica Anthony

The Most, by Jessica Anthony

I read The Most twice, back-to-back. This novella (133 pages) seems simple on the surface: it concerns a housewife, Kathleen, in 1957 who decides to spend all day in the swimming pool of the Newark, Delaware apartment complex where she lives. The first time I read it, I was pulled in by the question of why she is spending the whole day in the pool. By the end, I didn’t quite have an answer, so I read it again to…

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A Woman of Pleasure, by Kiyoko Murata

A Woman of Pleasure, by Kiyoko Murata

A Woman of Pleasure takes place in Japan and follows the story of Ichi, who in 1903 at the age of 15 is sold into prostitution by her father. She comes from a remote island (Iojima) and when she arrives in Kyushu, she is dazzled by the large houses she sees. Although she has come so far away from home, and although she is raped as soon as she enters the large brothel, she seems oddly accepting of what is…

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The House of Eve, by Sadeqa Johnson

The House of Eve, by Sadeqa Johnson

One reason I enjoy historical fiction is the opportunity to experience, vicariously, the lives of people from past time periods, and to learn about cultures and sub-cultures that are unfamiliar to me. The House of Eve, first published in 2023, gives readers glimpses of African-American experiences that many of us might not have known about. The novel starts in 1948 and is told from the point of view of two young Black women: Ruby, who lives in North Philadephia, and…

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The Parted Earth, by Anjali Enjeti

The Parted Earth, by Anjali Enjeti

I knew of Anjali Enjeti as co-founder of the Georgia chapter of They See Blue, an organization to encourage progressive South Asian Americans to be politically engaged. Like many others, I was eager to see two Democratic senators elected from Georgia, and I was part of a letter-writing campaign from Ohio to Georgians.  I was therefore very interested to learn that Anjali Enjeti is also an author! The Parted Earth, published in May 2021, takes place in 1947 in India…

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Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

I saw the movie based on this book in the early 1990s, when it first came out, and loved it. But for some reason I did not read the book until recently. Like Water for Chocolate was originally published in Spanish in 1989. The title is a Spanish saying that refers to the boiling water used for making hot chocolate. If someone is “like water for chocolate,” their emotions are boiling over—an apt title because this book is about characters…

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The Last Quarter of the Moon, by Chi Zijian

The Last Quarter of the Moon, by Chi Zijian

First published in an English translation in 2013, this novel by a prize-winning Chinese author covers 90 years in the life of an Evenki woman (a nomadic people living in the mountainous forests of China and Russia). The unnamed narrator tells the story as an old woman whose way of life has almost disappeared. Each of the four sections of the book (Dawn, Mid-Day, Dusk, and The Last Quarter of the Moon) begins with an italicized section that takes place…

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Illuminations, by Mary Sharratt

Illuminations, by Mary Sharratt

Illuminations illuminates the life of Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century nun who founded her own abbey and composed beautiful works of sacred choral music. Hildegard’s journey to becoming a nun began against her will, when her mother “tithed” her to the church at the age of eight (she was her family’s 10th child). Hildegard became a companion to Jutta, who chose to become an “anchorite” nun, bricked into two rooms in the church. In compensation for Hildegard’s companionship, Jutta’s…

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Tumbling, by Diane McKinney-Whetstone

Tumbling, by Diane McKinney-Whetstone

Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the acclaimed author of six novels, the first of which is Tumbling, first published in 1996. The story, which takes place in Philadelphia in the 1940s and 1950s, focuses on Noon, her husband Herbie, and their two adopted children. But their lives are so intertwined with other community members that the novel is really about the entire neighborhood of African-Americans. There are so many things I like about this novel, from the engaging story lines to the…

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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, by Lisa See

With Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Lisa See has allowed us a window into the secluded world of women’s rooms in rural China in the 1800s. The central characters of this heart-felt and ultimately heart-wrenching tale are Lily, the daughter of a farmer; and her laotong (lifelong emotional partner), Snow Flower. The two communicate using special writing unique to women, called nu shu. Their friendship deepens throughout their childhood and adolescence, but before Snow Flower’s marriage, Lily discovers something…

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