Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Several months ago while browsing in a bookstore, a friend recommended Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows to me. It sounded cute but something I would not normally seek out to read. I put it on my ever-growing TBR list anyway so I wouldn’t forget it. I found the audiobook version on one of Audible’s recent sales and decided to get it. I’m so glad I did.
It is romance-meets-mystery-meets- regular life. Nikki, the daughter of two Indian immigrants living in London, is the wild card of the family due to dropping out of law school, moving out of her parent’s home to live on her own, and working as a bartender at a pub. She does not want a traditional Indian life for herself; she wants to work, have sex, and if she gets married she wants it to be to someone she chooses.
Through a pretty funny turn of events, Nikki finds herself teaching a group of Punjabi widows how to write erotic stories rather than learn to read and write. [Warning!] Many of their short stories are included in the book and there is a wide variety of them. After a while she finds herself thinking of these women as family. She is drawn to helping solve the decades-old murder that the group has whispered about and she finds herself in need of their help as well.
This is a bright, fun, enlightening read that will make you spare a second thought for both your elders and other cultures.
5/5 Stars