Inside the Mirror: A Novel

Winner of the AWP Prize for the Novel Ms. Magazine's Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024 In 1950s Bombay, Jaya Malhotra studies medicine at the direction of her father, a champion of women's education who assumes the right to choose his daughters' vocations. A talented painter drawn to the city's dynamic new modern art movement, Jaya is driven by her desire to express both the pain and extraordinary force of life of a nation rising from the devastation of British rule. Her twin sister, Kamlesh, a passionate student of Bharata Natyam dance, complies with her father's decision that she become a schoolteacher while secretly pursuing forbidden dreams of dancing onstage and in the movies. When Jaya moves out of her family home to live with a woman mentor, she suffers grievous consequences as a rare woman in the men's domain of art. Not only does her departure from home threaten her family's standing and crush her reputation; Jaya loses a vital connection to Kamlesh. Winner of the AWP Prize for the Novel, Parul Kapur's Inside the Mirror is set in the aftermath of colonialism, as an impoverished India struggles to remake itself into a modern state. Jaya's story encompasses art, history, political revolt, love, and women's ambition to seize their own power. In 1950s Bombay, Jaya Malhotra studies medicine at the direction of her father, a champion of womens education who assumes the right to choose his daughters vocations. A talented painter drawn to the citys dynamic new modern art movement, Jaya is driven by her desire to express both the pain and extraordinary force of life of a nation rising from the devastation of British rule. Her twin sister, Kamlesh, a passionate student of Bharata Natyam dance, complies with her fathers decision that she become a schoolteacher while secretly pursuing forbidden dreams of dancing on stage and in the movies. When Jaya moves out of her family home to live with a woman mentor, she suffers grievous consequences as a rare woman in the mens domain of art. Not only does her departure from home threaten her familys standing and crush her reputation, Jaya loses a vital connection to Kamlesh. Winner of the AWP Prize for the Novel, Parul Kapurs Inside the Mirror is set in the aftermath of colonialism, as an impoverished India struggles to remake itself into a modern state. Jayas story encompasses art, history, political revolt, love, and womens ambition to seize their own power.