May you be the mother of a hundred sons

– A journey among the women of India –

“A reporter for The Washington Post, Elisabeth Bumiller came to India with her husband …, and over three-and-a-half years, travelled to all parts of the country, examining the paradoxes, problems, triumphs and realities of the lives of India’s women: villagers, movie-stars, intellectuals, policewomen. ‘A woman’s role in Indian society’, the author writes, ‘is full of contradicitons. While enormous numbers of them are illiterate, many hold important positions in politics and the arts. While most suffer discrimination and poverty, others are transforming India into a modern nation.’ Bumiller brings out these paradoxes in a clean, insightful style that makes the vast complexities of the lives of India’s four hundred million women accessible and compelling.”