This is incredibly short book, really half way between a short story and a novel. It has two narrators with different voices, one of whom tells almost a folk tale in which a spirit haunts her, and the other who tells a more modern story. The writing was lovely, and it ambles along pleasantly with no real points of high drama.

This is a review of an advance copy provided in return for an honest review.

Due to the ways I actually get my hands on books and where I get my recommendations, I rarely read books by Indian authors. When I saw this small book available for request I wanted to give it a try to mend that fact.

The story is of one family, a family so trapped by the inertia of their past wealth that they cannot seem to do anything constructive. We are given a complete picture of the family living under one roof and the circumstances that cause the change to their circumstances. There is a sudden shift in between in the narrative and the dual narrative only made sense further into the story. The aunt in the title is the woman who heralds the change by dying, but not really. She hovers as an evil spirit trying to tempt our original narrator Lata into betraying her true instincts. The way those exchanges go and how Lata actually deals with it all made me relish the character(of Lata, not the aunt). There was a loss of flow in between / some conversations felt a little choppy, which I think comes as part of translated works from certain languages. It did not bother me as it would have with any other story.  This book would be an interesting one to debate with a group of people to thrash out all the various characters, their flaws, and their learning curves.

I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is completely based on my own reading experience

This delightful book tells the story of Somlata, a resourceful eighteen-year-old who marries into the Mitras family. Once the family was noble and grand but now they find themselves in straitened circumstances due to their ability to spend and their inability to see the need to work in order to produce the income to support their habits. Their grand house is divided into apartments for the various family members and upstairs lives her husband's irascible and formidable widowed aunt. It is Somlata who discovers the body of Pishima and also her ghost, who tells her to hide her jewels from the rest of her avaricious relatives, and Somlata is an obedient girl.

It also tells the story of Somlata's daughter, Basoma and how she finds her identity and destiny. As strong and principled as her mother, Basoma is a feisty delight.

I enjoyed this window onto a slice of Bengali life. There are a number of levels to this story and so it is a rewarding book for both the individual reader and the book club. I just wish there had been a glossary for all the titles of various family members, although with perseverance I got the hang of it in the end. Nonetheless, it was a good read.

This is a book with a difference- a slightly odd/ strange story.
It’s is based around family, loyalty , money or the lack of it.
I have to admit I did struggle with this book,
Thank you to both NetGalley and John Murray Press for sending me eARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review

A very well told but very short story about 3 generations of women in living in the same household in Bengali.
For a short story there is a lot of detail that brings the book to life but it wasn't until towards the end that I was able to put in context the characters and how they related to each and then the book made sense.
Intriguing ending left open......

Thanks to John Murray Press and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting and enigmatic little novella. It can easily be read in one sitting which was a bonus for me as I started reading it on a plane. I really enjoy South Asian fiction although I tend to mostly read female authors I thought it was time to give the blokes a chance.

The story follows two points of view, that of Somlata and Boshon, two Bengali women whose stories play out at different points in time. Also featured are their large extended family, including Pishima - the Aunt Who Wouldn't Die.

This story is part family saga, part love story and part ghost story. It's a quit and enigmatic little tale and written in a simple, yet compelling, style. It's quite difficult to know what's lost when a book has been translated, but the unique Bengali humour and cultural voice shines through in the writing.

I would have liked to have seen more of Boshon's story and although it was a deliberate narrative choice, I didn't really like the way her story ended so abruptly.

Overall, an enjoyable read and recommended for anyone who enjoys South Asian fiction.

A strange little novel.

Somlata married Chakor Mitra Chowdhury when she was eighteen. The Chowdhury family had been very wealthy, but as each generation came along, thinking that they didn't have to work, the money, gold and land started to dwindle. Somlata watched in horror and through her cunning, managed to get her husband to open a shop.

Back in the home they shared with all the other members of the family, the idea that one of the family had opened a shop was at treated with disdain, except for the aunt who never left her room, she saw that Somlata was the one person who might save the family. But why then did Somlata feel that this aunt, now dead just wouldn’t leave her alone?

A strange story with stranger characters. The writing is utterly beautiful. I’m sure that this story will be enjoyed by many, simply because it’s so unique.

Dietes

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

This was a very different type of book from my normal choice, and I found it interesting, if a little hard-going at times. I am glad I persevered, as it has definitely broadened my horizons with an entertaining story, full of memorable characters.

I think translators of foreign books are very brave. Just this simple process can turn a great book (in it's native language) into a mediocre one.

In this case I think they have done a good job. Yes, the text still feels stiff at times but on the whole it flows well. This short and almost traditional tale of generations of Bengali women trying to keep hold of power in the home even after death, cleverly spins around the new young bride who thinks nobility comes with her husband.

This book is full of vibrant and sharp thinking, at times amusing and sad. It stayed with me long after I'd finished it, always a good sign. Loved it!

I like to read as widely as possible, and that includes translations of novels that have been popular in their country or culture of origin. There’s always the niggle that the translator might have missed some of the original nuances of the story or narrative voice, but it’s still interesting to see how attitudes, situations, and story-telling tropes differ around the world. This short (to western eyes) novel was written by a Bengali author living in India and draws its setting and characters very much from that world, with much of the action revolving around the home of a once-wealthy family, most especially the newest member of the household, and her attempts to fix the situation using methods that don’t involve selling off more assets than have already been disposed of, simply for their cash value.

Somlata comes from an impoverished background and knows the importance of hard work and careful financial planning. Her new husband’s family, however, consider most forms of employment beneath them, and so finance their lifestyle by means of selling off land and jewels with no thought of reinvesting the proceeds to provide them with an ongoing income. When the oldest woman in the household, the widow of Somlata’s father-in-law’s brother, dies unexpectedly, Somlata finds herself haunted by a ghost who instructs her first to locate and re-hide the old woman’s jewellery box and then taunts her with tales of long-hidden family secrets.

The ghost plays tricks on Somlata and her in-laws, causing her to burn or over-season the dishes she prepares for them, and others to suffer falls or become mute when they seem likely to reveal their suspicions as to the whereabouts of the jewellery box. Wanting to rectify the situation, Somlata manages to raise enough money to set her husband up in a shop, a role he and his family at first resist but soon come to enjoy. Somlata, too, enjoys the new freedoms provided to her by the business and by her new found prosperity, even as she at times is forced to go against the wishes of the family in order that they don’t disrupt her success.

This story is intercut with another, set some two decades later, in which Somlata’s daughter also enjoys unexpected freedoms, while living in the part of the house once occupied by the old woman whose jewellery box Somlata is still hiding. It took me a while to ascertain how the two stories were linked, which may have been due to a lack of background knowledge on my part, and I did find some of the assumptions that seemed to be expected of readers to pass me by.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, but I could have done with a few more expository sentences to keep me on track.

Somlata marries into a noble, but increasingly poor family, whose men have never worked a day in their lives. She is terrorised by the matriarch, Great Aunt Pishima, and even more so when she discovers Pishima’s dead body and her ghost begins to haunt Somlata.

The ghost of Pishima demands that Somlata takes and hides her jewellery box, before giving one piece of bad advice after another, potentially jeopardising the fortunes of the family.

It is then up to Somlata to find the best solution.

For me, this story worked on a variety of levels. First, it shows the change in a society’s attitude towards women over three generations, from the starved widow, to the background entrepreneur, to the young woman riding a scooter and shunning marriage.

Second, it was hard to tell whether the story criticised the role that women had to take in pushing for the success of the family, or lauded it. Certainly each time Pishima spoke, it was like a bad spirit trying to lead Somlata astray from her wifely duty. Yet in many ways the story was quite feminist, particularly when Boshan’s voice appeared.

Third, the humour was quiet and wry – like a Bengali Kafka, but wrapped up in a culture that is fascinated by rebirth and reincarnation.

Overall, it was quite different to something that I would normally read and I really enjoyed it.

My review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay tells us the story of Somlata, who gets married at 18 to a man from a noble but impoverished family.

The newly weds live with his extended family in a large house, with Aunt Pishima as the matriarch of the family. When she dies, her ghost haunts Somlata, and it is up to Somlata to fix the family's fortunes.

This was a quick read, but enjoyable, with all of the characters lifelike, and Somlata a heroine you could cheer on.

The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die was published on 11th July 2019, and is available to buy on Amazon and on Waterstones. I've found a link to where you can search for local bookshops, including independent!


You can find out more about Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay on Wikipedia as he has written a lot of books in Bengali, and this edition has been translated into English.

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to John Murray Press (the publishers) for this book.

Check out my GoodReads profile to see more reviews!

I still couldn't decide by the close of this book whether I really enjoyed it or not.
I loved the portrayal of the family background at the outset and was intrigued enough to wonder what was going to happen to the main character. Would she be able to overcome the financial difficulties they faced by building a successful business or would she succumb to the temptation offered by the family gold?
Somehow the inclusion of the ghost just didn't work for me, although a very efficient tool for introducing the battle of the conscience.

Thank you to NetGalley and John Murray Publishers for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

A young bride is taken to stay in her husband's home on their marriage. She meets his aunt who stays in the middle level of the house. She keeps her door open and sees everything. One day the aunt gives her, the jewellery box, and she tells her to hide it. The aunt dies soon after but continually appears in their home in a white sari. A gentle tale that takes you through her life, lumps, bumps and all. A good read but a book that makes you think.

This isn't an author I'm familiar with, but having read other books set in and around India, I've found I've enjoyed reading of tales based on cultural traditions in this part of the world. It is a very quick read, and I sat and read it in one sitting. However, for me the tale was too simple and I did not feel a great deal of depth to it. This is a translation from the original text, and whether this has meant something has been lost by being translated from the original language, for me I did not feel any empathy or connection with any of the characters. It is a very simple tale of a large family who live together. One day an aunt within the family dies, but one family member is unable to be rid of her ghost. If you have read similar books as this and enjoyed it then this may be as equally as enjoyable. However, sadly this wasn't a book that gripped me..

Eighteen year old Somlata marries into a once aristocratic family whose menfolk shun working as an occupation of the lower classes. It is her business sense that eventually propels the family to reclaim their social standing amidst heated debates as to the propriety of her female role. Her daughter, Boston, determined to remain single and financially independent, inherits the most prized possessions, jewellery and an apartment, of a long deceased great aunt she has never met. However, her great aunt’s spirit appears to have captivated Boshon’s every waking moment, compelling Boston on a life path over which she has little control or choice. A compelling read celebrating female power.

I read this book in one setting as I couldn't put it down.
It's an amazing and humorous novella, well written and full of memorable characters.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This book started well but didn’t seem to develop as much as I had hoped. It is quite short so could have developed the daughter’s story more I think as I would have read more about her.
The characters were described well and it gave a good insight into the culture and lives of the time. The fact that titles rather than names were used for family members caused some confusion as I wasn’t sure who I was reading about some of the time..
A quirky and at times entertaining book but it didn’t grab me.
Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This was quite a complicated read for me at first as it changed from person to person but I soon got into it and enjoyed it. It was very short though, I would have liked it longer.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

I'm afraid I didn't warm to this book, which was really disappointing as it sounded like something I'd really enjoy. I quite liked the first chapter, but the change of viewpoint threw me and I didn't engage with Somlata at all and then found the return to Boshun more of the same as in Chapter One. That's when I decided to give up - sorry! But thanks to Net Galley and John Murray for letting me read it.