An amazing read touching on a dark part of India that I didn’t realise was so recent. Moving story that will stay with you

So I have just this minute finished this book and I have tears streaming down my face! Not many books have me crying and when they do its an immediate 5 star from me. I can't believe how much this book has me sobbing, but in the best way,

Where to start, from the story, the characters, their relationships, the sadness and tragedy, the flow, the culture, literally everything about this book made me want to carry on turning the pages and it never end at the same time. We learn early on that in some Indian cultures a girl is often seen as a burden and they don't have the same rights as men such as basic education and some are even killed just for being born a female.

We meet Janini who lives in India and has just given birth to a daughter who is taken away. She already has one daughter and that is enough, they need a boy. The book flicks between then and now between India and Australia told from another narrative Nila and I absolutely loved finding out their backgrounds and how they could potentially link.

Tough topics are covered throughout this book and I thought Rajasree has done an amazing job balancing the horrors and very real devastations of thousands of girls going missing with the beauty, culture, food and landscape of a beautiful country that is India. Great writing!

I will be recommending this book to others and looking out for more from this author.

2.5 *
I was drawn to this book because of the cover, the setting and the theme it tackles. Unfortunately, wanting a male child and female infanticide are both prevalent practices in the timeline of the book and I have heard of horror stories particularly in Madurai and Salem.

The positive aspect of the book is the bold topic, especially for a debut novel. Set in two timelines that span the decades from 1993 to 2019, the story is about young mother Janani who is not allowed to raise the babies she births after her first one because they are girls and her husband and mil want only boys. Humiliated and oppressed by societal norms that mean she cannot defy the injustice, Janani feels stifled.
Years later, in 2019,Nila, who has grown up in Australia, comes to India with her parents to see her dying grandfather one last time. She has a secret to reveal to them as well. She also hopes to know more about where her mother came from, her family and her own history but she ends up getting more than she bargained for.

I loved Janani and her portrayal was very realistic. Reading the book on mothers day was a nice coincidence as this is an ode to the strength and determination of a mother to protect her daughter. Nila's story however was dragged out a lot and there was no mystery about her secret as it was very obvious!

While the past story was better written, the writing suffered from lack of research when it came to names of the characters and the way many of them addressed each other. I don't think an older lady in 1993 would be called Vandana for example. Also, wading through the numerous terms of address for various relatives and keeping track was tedious. In addition, the addressing was not always accurate. For example, no one calls their mil 'maamiyaar'! It is either amma or athai. Janani comes from a Tamil speaking family but refers to her father as acha which is Malayalam. Her mother's sister is referred to as attai which is actually the term used for one's father's sister. Terms are used interchangeably as well and if I, as someone who is a combination of Tamilian and Malayali found it difficult, I can't imagine the target audience in the US finding it easy.

I liked the bond of friendship Janani shares with fellow sufferer Shuba and the way they help and encourage each other but I found myself wanting more about Janani's journey to a different country after her second marriage. This is only hinted at but we never get to see what happened.

The local flavour of Madurai is portrayed somewhat accurately though there are some discrepancies that jar. Overall, the book disappointed by its inability to live up to the promise of the theme.

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot - you can find reviews like that out there already.

This book is both uplifting and heartrending - but ultimately optimistic in the end. It has a dual timeline, switching between the two, so that we learn Janani's story in India (set in the past) and that of her family in Australia (current day), including her daughter Nila.

The section set in the past is the heartrending story of how Janani was treated by her husband and mother-in-law. I wept buckets at the appalling and brutal way in which her newborn baby - a second girl - was taken from her, and again in other passages describing the horrendous treatment of Janani and other mothers. I do not know how Janani found her inner strength, and am full of admiration for her character.

I won't say more, for fear of giving away too much of the plot. Instead I would urge you to read this powerful novel for yourself.

Trigger warning: infanticide

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

A fascinating insight into the history of the area and the awful genocide of baby girls. You can almost feel the heat and feel the atmosphere with the wonderful writing. A great novel that will stay with you.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for a fair and honest review.

This book is outstanding. There is no higher praise than I could give this. I feel it grabbed me from page one right up until the end. It left me speechless and breathless in places. I have not come across such a beautifully written novel in a long long time. The story filled me with joy, love, heartache and so many more emotions throughout.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publishers for a gifted copy of this book. Heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time told over a timeline over 30 years yet surprisingly only the last 30 years. Following the life of Janani, a very young mother and her inability to provide her husband and family with a boychild. Despite her girl babies being of her and from her they are seen as just an unwanted commodity and not viable. As the story develops we see a young woman coming to terms with her family history and forming a relationship with her ancestral homeland.

I accept that I am in the minority with my review of this book, but I just could not get into it sadly. I could not connect with the main characters, and I struggled to keep track of the many names, their relationships to each other, and how they fitted into the narrative. There are many Indian words used for a variety of items, food etc, for which there are no explanations or translations. I found this frustrating. Even at the beginning, I didn’t realise that the names used were for ‘mother’ and ‘father’, I thought they were the words for grandparents. It also took a few pages of context to realise that the mother-in-law was the person who lived with the family.
I think that authors should not assume that all their readers will understand the Indian words, even if they are in common usage in Indian communities.
I found the narrative to be very slow, very heavy on description, and realised that I was losing interest sadly. The book is undoubtedly well- written, when I could understand the vocabulary.
This book is not for me, and will be a DNF.
However, read it for yourself, as I am in the minority of reviewers.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

3.5 stars . I love this type of dual lined story but this one didn’t grab me . I just found it slow to be honest and no surprises. . However the last quarter was moving. My thanks to reviewers for my chance to read

Thanks so much to Hachette for my gifted proof, absolutely stunning it is, and Netgalley for my e-arc.

I read this alongside 2 of my buddies, Lucy and Wendy. We read 4 chapters a day and left voice notes about our thoughts. Wow what a powerful book! Lucy and Wendy felt the same too.

So Nila and Janani were amazingly strong women, they were both my favourite characters. I loved the timeline switching from the past to the present day, and I liked how some people weren’t named until later in the book, which keeps you guessing as to what is going on.

The culture shock in this book is huge, I didn’t realise things like this happened, and I have a feeling somewhere in the depths of India it still does. What a horrible feeling it must be to feel scared to find out you are pregnant with a girl, especially if you already have a daughter. Knowing your family could take the child and give it away, or worse leave it to die. Janani faced just that, her babies gone forever. Her awful, awful mother in law hurling abuse at her every second of the day, the name calling, the hitting. But the pain of losing her babies had to be the worst hurt. Her little girl Lavanika was such a ray of sunshine in her life, I’m glad she had her.

Honestly, this story was so emotional, extremely hard hitting, and has stayed with me since finishing it. I would recommend this one. Thanks again to Hachette for my copy, and for Rasjree Variyar for writing it.

Oh goodness, what a read. Heart-rending. 1994 Madurai India, Janani has a daughter and is pregnant with another. Her last two were taken from her as girls are useless.
2019 Australia, Nila is told her grandfather is dying and she must accompany her parents to India.
Janani's story is told and interwoven with Nila's.
My daughter was born in 1990 in England, and we were told they would not tell us the sex of the baby. Common policy in an area of South Asian women. The story resonated.
Beautifully and honesty written. Highly recommended.

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Orion for approving me for an ARC of this book. I buddy read this with my pals Wendy and Dee, it was great to chat about our thoughts as we went and I can’t wait for our next read together.

⌛This is a dual timeline story, told from the POV of Janani and Nila. I enjoyed the flipping back and forth between the different timelines, the story unravelled beautifully and whilst I expected some things to happen there were quite a few surprises along the way.

😢I certainly went through all the different emotions during this read. Anger at what Janani was going through, fear for her safety, sadness for many of the women of Madurai and hope for both Janani and Nila. It was a book filled with tension from the start.

🪷I will freely admit that my knowledge of Indian culture was very limited before starting this book. Rajasree introduces us to the world of Madurai, its traditions and culture without being too information heavy. The scenes were set and brought everything to life in my mind’s eye in the most beautiful way.

🤫Secrets are at the centre of this story. Nila is lost and desperate to know more about her family, and her history and Janani is rightly scared to tell her anything. The trip back to India was obviously going to open up some old wounds and I think Janani needed to make the trip to gain her own form a closure, to face what had happened to her.

💓To put it plainly this book is amazing. It’s deeply moving, depicting the powerful bond between mothers and daughters.

Following two timelines, we first meet Janani in Madurai, 1992. A young Indian mother who is about to give birth again who, after only bearing daughters so far with only one staying with her, is hoping for a son this time.

Fast forward to Sydney, 2019 and we meet Nila who is keeping a personal secret from her family that she is trying to work out how to break to them when a message about her elderly Grandad changes everything.

Nila and her parents make the trip to their Grandfather's home in Madurai to visit him and Nila gets to meet her estranged family over there and uncovers some past secrets from her parents lives that eclipse her own and will change all of their lives.

The themes in this book make for very difficult reading in places, particularly around female infanticide and how women and girls were, and in some cases, still are treated in some areas.

Books about India always tempt me, and this one fulfilled all my expectations. It deals with the much-written-about themes of caste, arranged marriage, family honour, etc, but its main focus is on female infanticide. It was shocking and distressing and at times I found myself holding my breath as crucial parts of the narrative unfolded.

The structure of the book worked extremely well, alternating between the mother's and the daughter's story. The reader understands very well the secrets that Janani has kept from Nila, and when all becomes clear and Nila is able to reveal the secret she has been struggling to reveal to her parents, it is a beautiful moment.

The pace, the dialogue, the tension between the characters, all are totally credible. It is such a beautifully written novel that, despite the difficult subject matter, it was a joy to read.

Set between India and Australia, this is a simultaneously horrendous and mesmerising novel. It is a family saga telling the story of how in some areas/cultures in India, families do not keep alive girl babies, as the cost of dowry etc are so all encompassing for a family. The mesmerising part of the novel is how it is told, from two points of view during different generations. I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in this culture from the food, way of live to the language, despite the awfulness of this subject matter.

The Daughters of Madurai is a very special book. I love how within a few chapters you know a part of the story that Nila, one of the lead characters isn’t aware of. The story is split over two timelines that merge together seamlessly.
It covers the hard and heartbreaking subject of the lives of girls and women in India but is still a story filled with positivity.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read The Daughters of Madurai.

This has been one of those books that I simply haven’t been able to put down. It felt like Madurai and the villages, the everyday life, the food, the clothes, everything came alive on the pages. My heart has broken for the women and daughters, not only in this book, but those still living this heartbreaking life. This novel deals honestly yet with such profound tenderness for its difficult subject of female infanticide, as we follow a dual timeline through Janani’s pregnancy with Nila and her life then and 24 year old Nila’s desperate yearning for her family history. A story of the true power of female friendships, mother and daughter bonds, family and the desire to be true to oneself, this story will stay with me for a long time.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for a review.

Madurai, 1992. A young mother in a poor family, Janani is told she is useless if she can't produce a son - or worse, bears daughters they can't afford. They let her keep her first baby girl but the rest are taken away as soon as they are born. The fate of her children has never been in her hands. But Janani can't forget the daughters who weren't allowed to live.

Sydney, 2019. Nila has a secret, one she's been keeping from her parents for far too long. Before she can say anything, her grandfather in India falls ill and she agrees to join her parents on a trip to Madurai - the first in over ten years. Growing up in Australia, Nila knows very little about where she or her family came from, or who they left behind. What she's about to learn will change her forever...

Such a delightful book!

Oh how I love this book. Set over two timelines – Madurai 1992 and Sydney 2019 – this book is both devastating and yet hopeful. Janani has just given birth to her third daughter and in poor rural southern India this is a burden that the family will not take on and the baby is taken away. Dealing with a difficult topic of infanticide this book was sensitive and honest. My heart bled for many of the female characters in this story and the lives they are forced to lead. A book of mother and daughter relationships and family secrets, but also of hope for the future. This book will stay with me a long time and I thoroughly recommend. I will be looking for more from this author in the future.Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the ARC of this novel in return for an honest review.

I really love India and it’s culture so was looking forward to reading this. Set in dual time lines, Madurai, India 1992 and Sydney, Australia 2019 and largely from the perspective of two main characters Janani in third person and Nila in first person and in alternating chapters. I did struggle a bit with the relationship names which affected the smooth read I had at other times; there was a glossary of terms at the end of the book but not easy to access when reading digitally. That aside it was quite a quick and easy read despite covering a difficult and quite harrowing subject.

Briefly, the book opens in 1992 where Janani has just given birth to another daughter and again the baby is immediately taken away from her to be killed! In 2019 Nila has just found out her grandfather in Madurai is ill and she wants to join her parents in visiting, but it means she needs to keep her secret for a bit longer.

Although this is quite a distressing read in places, covering the subject of female infanticide, it is shocking to find that although this has been criminalised it does still take place in India. There are also other issues in the book including homosexuality, arranged marriage and casteism, hierarchical divisions of society which are determined by birth. But this is also a story about love, female relationships, family and hope. An enlightening and heart rending story full of shocking family secrets. An enthralling read.