Another Man’s Wife

Title – Another Man’s Wife

Author – Manjul Bajaj

Genre – fiction, women

Rating – 5/5

This is not a chick-lit, as the name might suggest, but an excellent collection of women centric short stories. These nine stories evolve around human desire, emotions, intimacy and love, and each story explores and explains a different side of a person’s and a society’s behavior. The stories are each from a different part of India, and the characters cut across the vast panorama of classes and cultures. Tribals, servants, middle classes, businessmen, and elite – all jostle with desire and its aftermath.

Each story is beautifully written and has a distinct flavor from a different part of India- from Kashmir, to Delhi, Murshidabad, Lucknow, Jalandhar, Goa, etc. Once I started the book, I paused after each story to think over them, and the underlying emotions. Manjul has impressive writing skills and transports the readers to different regions with flesh and blood characters.

The language is simple, effective and descriptive. In all, an easy and thoughtful read! Looking forward to more works by the author.