Women, Dreaming

Book excerpt: Salma's novel takes you into a world of women. It is writing that describes the inner universe of women who do not know the outside world. Salma deftly shows [how] these women navigate their sad, emotional landscape, holding time in their hands, gradually stepping outside their sorrows. Everything here is fresh, including their feminine language. Traditionalist mindsets may not be taken in by this novel where stories emerge from under the blanket of tradition, revealing that a break with the old order is inevitable' -Perumal Murugan, Indian author, scholar and literary chronicler who writes in Tamil 'Women, Dreaming is an evocative double bill of fierce feminine lifescapes, with the iconic Salma's searing Tamil narrative rendered in translucent English by the hugely gifted Meena Kandasamy' -Namita Gokhale, writer, publisher and festival director 'Women grapple with life in a universe constructed by men, for men[,] in this moving story set in a tiny village in Tamil Nadu. Despite the claustrophobic trappings of religious patriarchy, they chart their own course and find their own voice. In Salma's splendid telling, even those who appear to remain static resist through words and silence. Meena Kandasamy's effortless translation is imbued with the fragrance of Tamil' -T.M. Krishna, Carnatic vocalist, writer, activist and author Mehar dreams of freedom and a life with her children. Asiya dreams of her daughter's happiness. Sajida dreams of becoming a doctor. Subaida dreams of the day when her family will become free of woes. Parveen dreams of a little independence, a little space for herself in the world. Mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, neighbours . . . In a tiny Muslim village in Tamil Nadu, the lives of these women are sustained by the faith they have in themselves, in each other, and the everyday compromises they make. Salma's storytelling-crystalline in its simplicity, patient in its unravelling-enters this interior world of women, held together by love, demarcated by religion, comforted by the courage in dreaming of better futures. Women, Dreaming is a beautiful novel by writer and activist Salma, translated exquisitely from the Tamil by Meena Kandasamy.