Chitra Divakaruni believes in strong women.
Her fiction — which includes “Sister of My Heart,” “Mistress of Spices,” “Oleander Girl,” “Before We Visit The Goddess” and more than a dozen other works — shows women who are trapped in their culture and tradition, who are conflicted in their love lives and aspirations, and who usually rise above everyone’s expectations.
Her most recent book, “Independence: Three Sisters, Their Deep Bond, and the Struggle for India’s Freedom,” is her second historical novel, and while the three sisters she focuses on are different in most ways, they are similar in their ion to live their own lives on their own .
As the Houston-based author has done in other novels, Divakaruni toggles from one character’s point of view to the next, to the next. Each chapter is told in the voice of one of the three sisters. Their s — sometimes of the same events — show how skillfully Divakaruni reveals siblings’ ways of seeing the world through their specific prisms.
Priya is a smart young lady, good at chess, who aspires to become a doctor like her father. She is in love, but she doesn’t let that stop her from pursuing a career. This is disconcerting to her family and to those in her small Indian community, whose idea of success is to marry someone rich and influential. Why would a person want more than that? The prevailing view in her village is that careers are for men.
Deepa is self-absorbed and gets by on her charms and looks. Her view of how the world works gradually deepens. Only later does she assert herself and use her voice. She becomes caught in the tension between Hindus and Muslims, and has to confront whether love is more important than a family’s religious tradition.
Jamini is the most self-aware of the three. She has a physical disability. She takes responsibility for chores. She knows the world is ing her by because of her shortcomings, but all she wants is to be seen for who she really is, and loved. Unfortunately, she wants to be loved by the person who loves her sister Priya.
All three sisters want their families to be proud of them. All three sisters have secrets.
The story takes place in the 1940s while India is breaking free from colonial rule. The partitioning of India and Pakistan is wracked with violence, suspicion, racism, classism and religious extremism. Sound familiar?
While the country is breaking free, creating chaotic unforeseen circumstances, the same is occurring for each of the sisters. The story is both political and personal.
Divakaruni’s first historical novel came out in 2022: “The Last Queen” was a story based on the life of Jindan Kaur, a woman who overcame formidable obstacles to become a national leader. That book was a number one bestseller in India. When she finished “The Last Queen,” Divakaruni immediately began working on “Independence.”
“Writing ‘The Last Queen’ changed me,” Divakaruni told me last year. “It made me determined to learn about colonization and decolonization. I felt impelled to continue the story, especially since we were approaching the 75th year of Indian independence. And while I wanted to write about what independence means for a country, I also wanted to write about what independence means for women.”
Each section of “Independence” includes a historical summary, and then the sisters’ narratives continue within that context. Divakaruni’s skill in telling the human story within the broader political story made me care about both.
Priya asks the questions that challenge the patriarchy of the day, such as the discrimination she faced when she wanted to apply to medical school: “How will things ever change for us women if we — and our families — are unwilling to fight for what matters most?” Most of the men don’t take her very seriously. Later in the book the narrator observes, “No matter how her story ends, she refuses to believe that a woman cannot have the joys of home and also a place in the world.”
Deepa wonders why she can’t love a person without it causing consternation in her family and community, as well as in the family and community of her fiancé. If religion is that intolerant, what’s the point?
Jamini wonders whether all of her outward virtue has been worth it. “She is weary of being good. What has it given her? A wish rises in her, a crazy wind. “Let something change. Let something break. I don’t care what. I don’t care how.” Her wish becomes reality.
As the country goes through a revolution, and as the sisters go through their own personal revolutions, Priya utters this realization: “Ah, the cost of independence.”
The price is always higher than you think.
Dean Nelson is the founder and director of the journalism program at Point Loma Nazarene University, and the founder and host of the annual Writer’s Symposium By The Sea. His most recent book is “Talk To Me: How To Ask Better Questions, Get Better Answers, and Interview Anyone Like a Pro.” (HarperCollins, 2019).
“Independence: Three Sisters, Their Deep Bond, and the Struggle for India’s Freedom” by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (William Morrow, 2023; 288 pages)
