Inside the Mirror: A Novel (AWP Prize for the Novel)

By: Parul Kapur

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Synopsis: 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.

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