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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows (2017)

by Balli Kaur Jaswal

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1,2618614,643 (3.8)75
Every woman has a secret life . . .Nikki, a modern young Punjabi, lives in cosmopolitan London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she's spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father's death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a 'creative writing' course at the community centre in the beating heart of London's close-knit Punjabi community.The proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn English, not short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realises that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected--and exciting--kind. As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community's 'moral police'. But when the widows' gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife--a modern woman like Nikki--and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.… (more)
  1. 01
    Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (fulner)
    fulner: The amount of similarities between the girls of antebellum South in Gone with the Wind and the Indian girls in Erotic Stories for Punjabi widows is striking.
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» See also 75 mentions

English (88)  German (1)  All languages (89)
Showing 1-5 of 88 (next | show all)
Just based on the title, I was super skeptical of this book. Erotica? No thanks. But man, am I glad I looked past my initial qualms. This book was great! I would definitely recommend it for book clubs. It was a fun read that touched on some important social issues as well. ( )
1 vote beckyrenner | Aug 3, 2023 |
I quite enjoyed the setting and the exploration of the initial cast of characters. As for the mystery, there is very little, mostly an unspoken community knowledge that you can put together with two pieces of information given in the first couple chapters. It's unfortunate that this part of the narrative takes over; I would have read a smaller drama that was just the story of this group. The bigger drama takes away from that and doesn't quite seem to fit. I mean of course both of these coexist in the world, just the tones don't mesh, or something, I don't know, it didn't work great for me. The beginning, the class and the stories they tell, somehow has a cozy atmosphere (I say that as in the genre not what I consider cozy), and the 'mystery' does not. I'm undecided though, this book was not marketed at me and I really only read it because I'd seen it years before at the indie bookstore and then it happened into my hands recently. It's pretty off my reading paths and maybe it's a great way to introduce something new into the path of preferred readers. ( )
  Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |
Fun mix of perspectives and how people relate to each other. Very enjoyable. ( )
  cathy.lemann | Mar 21, 2023 |
Nikki comes from a Sikh family but she has bucked tradition. She lives alone and works at a bar. To earn extra money, she takes a job teaching creative writing at the community center, but the Sikh women who take the class think they signed up for a class to learn better English. Nikki ends up teaching them how to write stories that are erotic fantasies. The men of the community find out about this and are not happy about it.

There is also a mystery element to this book with a twist that surprised me. And if you’re unsure about erotica, that part of it is pretty tame. It’s not 50 Shades of Gray. I also learned a lot about the Sikh religion and culture.

Recommended. ( )
1 vote mcelhra | Mar 18, 2023 |
This was a great mix of mystery and intrigue, a touch of romance, an uplifting and affirming main plot, a lovely headstrong character, feminism, and lots of humourous moments.

Too much sex, of course, but at least I expected that going in! ( )
  whakaora | Mar 5, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 88 (next | show all)
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Every woman has a secret life . . .Nikki, a modern young Punjabi, lives in cosmopolitan London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she's spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father's death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a 'creative writing' course at the community centre in the beating heart of London's close-knit Punjabi community.The proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn English, not short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realises that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected--and exciting--kind. As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community's 'moral police'. But when the widows' gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife--a modern woman like Nikki--and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

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