Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur

Difficult Daughters follows the life of Virmati, a young woman torn between family duty, passion for education, and forbidden love.

Summary of the Book

Set around the time of the Partition, Difficult Daughters is the moving story of Virmati, a young Punjabi girl born in Amritsar into an affluent Arya Samaj family. Her family encourages education but not independent thinking for girls. Virmati falls in love with her neighbor, the Professor – a married man with two children. The Professor eventually marries Virmati and she gets disowned by her family. He keeps her at his home with his furious first wife. The Professor encourages Virmati to pursue her education in Lahore and be independent. She desires to have the Professor to herself and the author beautifully portrays all her insecurities, struggles and frustrations in the book. This book will make for a very interesting read for all Manju Kapur fans.

About Manju Kapur

Manju Kapur is an Indian author. She teaches English at Delhi University. Manju completed her M.A. in 1972 from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and an M. Phil from Delhi University. Difficult Daughters was her first novel for which she won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 1999. She has also authored A Married Woman, The Immigrant, and Custody.