On a summer night in 2014, Padma and Lalli went missing from Katra Sadatganj, an eye-blink of a village in western Uttar Pradesh. Hours later they were found hanging in the orchard behind their home. Who they were, and what had happened to them, was already less important than what their disappearance meant to the people left behind. Slipping deftly behind political maneuvering, caste systems and codes of honor in a village in northern India, The Good Girls returns to the scene of their short lives and shameful deaths, and dares to ask: What is the human cost of shame?
“Both a tragic monument to the abused bar girls of Bombay and a celebration of their amazing resilience and spirit.”—William Dalrymple, bestselling author of The Anarchy Published in India to great acclaim and named a Time Out Subcontinental Book of the Year and an Observer Book of the Year, Beautiful Thing is a stunning piece of journalism that offers a rare firsthand glimpse into Bombay’s notorious sex industry. Sonia Faleiro was a reporter in search of a story when she met nineteen-year-old Leela, a charismatic exotic dancer with a story to tell. Leela introduced Sonia to the underworld of Bombay’s dance bars: a world of glamorous women; of fierce love, sex, and violence; of gangsters, police, prostitutes, and pimps. When an ambitious politician cashed in on a tide of false morality and had Bombay’s dance bars wiped out, Leela’s proud independence faced its greatest test. In a city where almost everyone is certain that someone, somewhere, is worse off than them, she fights to survive—and to win. In Beautiful Thing, Sonia Faleiro has crafted one of the most original works about India in years, an “intimate and valuable book of literary reportage . . . [that] will break your heart several times over” (The New York Times). “Reporting at its best.”—Junot Díaz, The Rumpus “A glimpse into a frightening subculture . . . In lesser hands, these young people could have come off as clichés, but the author makes sure we care for them and root for them to survive a life that most will never understand. Gritty, gripping, and often heartbreaking—an impressive piece of narrative nonfiction.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
&Lsquo;A Classic . . . Beautiful Lyricism, Poetic Passages And Evocative Descriptions Of Goa&Rsquo; &Mdash;Deccan Herald On A Gloomy November Evening In A Sleepy Village In Goa, It&Rsquo;S Time For Yet Another Funeral. The Girl Is Dead And No One In Azul Is Surprised. But Two Men Who Knew And Loved Her Are Achingly Curious To Discover What Made Her Give Up Her Life To The Sea. As They Turn The Pages Of Her Diary, A Story Unravels&Mdash;Of Loneliness And Abandonment, Of Memories Branded So Deep That They Return To Haunt The Soul, And Of Hope So Powerful That It Negates Reality And Opens The Doors To A Future That Is Never To Be. Richly Atmospheric And Written With Unusual Lyricism, The Girl Is An Outstanding Debut&Mdash;A Tender And Disquieting Story About Love And Its Infinite Capacity For Betrayal. Press Reviews &Lsquo;A Classic . . . Beautiful Lyricism, Poetic Passages And Evocative Descriptions Of Goa&Rsquo;&Mdash;Deccan Herald &Lsquo;This Lyrical First Novel Is Rich With Dark Visual Imagery&Rsquo;&Mdash;India Today A Literary Voice That Has Taken The Measure Of The Most Extreme Human Emotions&Mdash;Love, Rage And Grief&Mdash;And, Too, Of What Lies Beyond: The Desire For Blessed Release. The Girl Has Wisdom, Tenderness, And A Sort Of Agelessness That Sets It Apart From Much Other Contemporary Fiction In English Coming Out Of India&Rsquo;&Mdash;Far Eastern Economic Review
When Sonia Faleiro set out to report on Bombay's bar dancers, she thought she knew what she would find: downtrodden, voiceless women, the helpless victims of predictable poverty. Instead she meets Leela: nineteen, charismatic and fearlessly outspoken, Leela has been dancing in Bombay's bars since she was thirteen. With her sharp wit and stubborn optimism, she is the best-paid dancer in a bar on the notorious Mira Road, where she dances to Bollywood film music. In the audience are 'kustomers', men with a little disposable income but not much else going for them. Leela has a 'husband' (who is already married), a few lovers whose names she can't remember, an insufferable mother camping out in her flat, and an adored best friend, Priya - the most beautiful woman she has ever seen. But when an ambitious politician shuts down the city's bars, Leela is forced into the most precarious kind of sex work - and must trade her proud independence for mere survival. Beautiful Thing is the vivid, intimate portrait of a young woman fleeing abuse and poverty to build a life on her own terms, in a city equally bent on reinventing itself. And it is the compelling story of an unlikely friendship, as two young women from different worlds pit their wits against the whims of mercurial Bombay. From Leela's point of view, our friendship was an adventure. She was seven years younger than me, but only she could teach me what I wanted to know ......
&Lsquo;A Classic . . . Beautiful Lyricism, Poetic Passages And Evocative Descriptions Of Goa&Rsquo; &Mdash;Deccan Herald On A Gloomy November Evening In A Sleepy Village In Goa, It&Rsquo;S Time For Yet Another Funeral. The Girl Is Dead And No One In Azul Is Surprised. But Two Men Who Knew And Loved Her Are Achingly Curious To Discover What Made Her Give Up Her Life To The Sea. As They Turn The Pages Of Her Diary, A Story Unravels&Mdash;Of Loneliness And Abandonment, Of Memories Branded So Deep That They Return To Haunt The Soul, And Of Hope So Powerful That It Negates Reality And Opens The Doors To A Future That Is Never To Be. Richly Atmospheric And Written With Unusual Lyricism, The Girl Is An Outstanding Debut&Mdash;A Tender And Disquieting Story About Love And Its Infinite Capacity For Betrayal. Press Reviews &Lsquo;A Classic . . . Beautiful Lyricism, Poetic Passages And Evocative Descriptions Of Goa&Rsquo;&Mdash;Deccan Herald &Lsquo;This Lyrical First Novel Is Rich With Dark Visual Imagery&Rsquo;&Mdash;India Today A Literary Voice That Has Taken The Measure Of The Most Extreme Human Emotions&Mdash;Love, Rage And Grief&Mdash;And, Too, Of What Lies Beyond: The Desire For Blessed Release. The Girl Has Wisdom, Tenderness, And A Sort Of Agelessness That Sets It Apart From Much Other Contemporary Fiction In English Coming Out Of India&Rsquo;&Mdash;Far Eastern Economic Review
Offers first-hand insight into Bombay's sex industry and traces the author's experiences with a charismatic teenage exotic dancer whose independence was challenged by an ambitious politician's campaign of false morality.
“Both a tragic monument to the abused bar girls of Bombay and a celebration of their amazing resilience and spirit.”—William Dalrymple, bestselling author of The Anarchy Published in India to great acclaim and named a Time Out Subcontinental Book of the Year and an Observer Book of the Year, Beautiful Thing is a stunning piece of journalism that offers a rare firsthand glimpse into Bombay’s notorious sex industry. Sonia Faleiro was a reporter in search of a story when she met nineteen-year-old Leela, a charismatic exotic dancer with a story to tell. Leela introduced Sonia to the underworld of Bombay’s dance bars: a world of glamorous women; of fierce love, sex, and violence; of gangsters, police, prostitutes, and pimps. When an ambitious politician cashed in on a tide of false morality and had Bombay’s dance bars wiped out, Leela’s proud independence faced its greatest test. In a city where almost everyone is certain that someone, somewhere, is worse off than them, she fights to survive—and to win. In Beautiful Thing, Sonia Faleiro has crafted one of the most original works about India in years, an “intimate and valuable book of literary reportage . . . [that] will break your heart several times over” (The New York Times). “Reporting at its best.”—Junot Díaz, The Rumpus “A glimpse into a frightening subculture . . . In lesser hands, these young people could have come off as clichés, but the author makes sure we care for them and root for them to survive a life that most will never understand. Gritty, gripping, and often heartbreaking—an impressive piece of narrative nonfiction.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
On a summer night in 2014, Padma and Lalli went missing from Katra Sadatganj, an eye-blink of a village in western Uttar Pradesh. Hours later they were found hanging in the orchard behind their home. Who they were, and what had happened to them, was already less important than what their disappearance meant to the people left behind. Slipping deftly behind political maneuvering, caste systems and codes of honor in a village in northern India, The Good Girls returns to the scene of their short lives and shameful deaths, and dares to ask: What is the human cost of shame?
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