From the heartland of India, a tale of love and freedom for the ages — translated into English for the first time from the Angika, a language that almost never reaches the anglophone shelf.
On the hot floodplains of the Kosi River, Gulabiya is a young farmhand in love with Balesar, the manager of a nearby farm's fieldhands. When Balesar decides to till his own land, he is joined in the enterprise by his Gulabo.
Their dreams are modest ones. But even modest dreams attract the wrath of Balesar's landlord. Gulabiya is betrayed by her own family, leading to a heartbreaking separation from her lover, while the village's wealthy power brokers scheme to sabotage Balesar's success. The powerful believe they have suppressed yet another attempt at resistance. They could not be more wrong.
First published in 2008, Gulabiya shocked and scandalised its readers — a story that breaks down the realities of farm labour and life in twenty-first-century India. In a caste- and class-ridden society, Gulabiya and Balesar's audacious escape from servitude will shake the very earth they till for others.
Translated from the Angika by Tejaswi Rawal and Shivangi.
Praise
“…[a] punchy read from the rural heartland that gives us a gutsy new heroine to love.” — Daisy Rockwell, International Booker Prize-winning translator of Tomb of Sand
About the author
Dr Abha Purbey writes in Angika, the language of the Anga region spanning Bihar and Jharkhand. Gulabiya is her landmark novel of the Kosi floodplains, now reaching English readers for the first time.
Perfect for readers of
Tomb of Sand, Perumal Murugan, Phanishwar Nath Renu's Maila Anchal — rural India told from inside, not looked at from above.
