The Bandit Queens

One

The women were arguing. The loan officer was due to arrive in a few hours, and they were still missing two hundred rupees. Rather, Farah and her two hundred rupees were missing. The other four women of their loan group had convened, as they did every Tuesday, to aggregate their respective funds.

Where is she? Geeta asked.

No one answered. Instead, the women pieced their respective Farah sightings into a jigsaw of gossip that, to Geeta s ears at least, failed to align. Saloni ­a woman whose capacity for food was exceeded only by her capacity for venom ­goaded most of the conversation.

This isn t the first time, Priya said.

And you know it won t be the last, Saloni finished.

When Preity mentioned she was fairly certain she d seen Farah buying hashish, Geeta felt it best to nudge them to more prosaic matters. Varunbhai is not going to like this.

Well, now we know where her money s going, Priya said.

Some devout Muslim. Saloni sniffed, the gesture dainty for a woman of her size. Lately she d been attempting to rebrand her weight as evidence of her community status. Compounded with her preternatural talent for bullying, this guise worked on the women. But Geeta had known Saloni and her family since childhood ­when she ruled the playground rather than their loan group ­and could accurately attribute her heft to genetics betraying her in her thirtieth year rather than any posh mark of affluence. Ironic, considering Saloni had spent her first nineteen years perpetually malnourished, thin as paper, and just as prone to cut. She d married well, curving into a stunning woman who d reclaimed her slim figure after her firstborn, but hadn t managed the same after the second.

Geeta listened to their rumors, observed how the women contributed and piled on, with clinical interest. This must ve been the way they d whispered about her after Ramesh left ­a fallen woman mixed with dirt ­then shushing each other when she approached, their lips

Parini Shroff

A radically feel-good story about the murder of no-good husbands by a cast of unsinkable women . . . A tale that demonstrates how the antidote to bleak circumstances is female friendship. New York Times Book Review

[A] wild ride. Very funny like, laugh-out-loud funny. NPR

This funny, feel-good read is a rollicking ride rife with memorable characters involved in ill-fated hijinks. It also serves up commentary on class, power dynamics and the role of women in society, with a feminist history lesson to boot. Good Housekeeping

Shroff cleverly considers how women might achieve autonomy within rural India s patriarchal society through shrewd, if complicated, female friendships. The Washington Post

This book is so much fun! In Parini Shroff s dark comedy, the put-upon women of a small Indian village decide to get rid of their husbands permanently. Things quickly spiral out of control as the bodies start piling up, the police get curious, and Geeta enters into a second-chance romance with a quiet widower who runs a speakeasy. And there s a dog! What s not to love? CrimeReads

For fans of dark humor and social commentary! The book is expectantly funny, but it also tackles things like the pursuit of freedom from abuse. The characters are well thought out, and there s great female friendship. BookRiot

The Bandit Queens is an original, memorable, and endearing story. At times deeply serious, then laugh-out-loud funny, Parini Shroff has written a sobering but hopeful exploration of womanhood, social injustices, and second chances. Charmaine Wilkerson, New York Times bestselling author of Black Cake

Twisty, compulsive, bold, surprising, moving: It s a wonderful book. Elizabeth McCracken, bestselling author of The Souvenir Museum and The Hero of This Book

Parini Shroff s debut novel is a rollicking mash-up of adventure story, thriller, dark