In a small town in the heart of India, a young girl is found tied to a bed inside a townhouse where thirteen people lie dead. The girl is alive, but she has been beaten and abused. She is held in the local prison, awaiting interrogation for the murders she is believed by the local people to have committed. Visiting social worker Simran attempts to break through the girl’s mute trance to find out what happened that terrible night. As she uncovers more and more, Simran realises that she is caught in the middle of a terrifying reality, where the unwanted female offspring of families are routinely disposed of. Brilliantly atmospheric, hauntingly real, this is a major debut from an exciting new author.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely wonderful!!!,
This review is from: Witness the Night (Paperback)
Set in small town Jullundur (Jalandhar) in Punjab, Witness the Night is the story of a 14 year old girl Durga caught in a nightmare and a 45-year-old social worker Simran who is working hard to find out the truth. When 13 people from a rich and prominent family are killed one night, 14-year-old Durga, the daughter of the family and the only survivor, is the main suspect.
When Simran, a fiercely independent and outspoken social worker arrives in Jullunder to speak with Durga and find out the truth from her, she realizes that the incident is not as straight forward as it seems. Durga looks like a scared child but she keeps mum about the incident. It is up-to Simran to find out the truth on her own. As she tries to uncover the truth, she finds that the relationship of Durga with her family has sinister undertones to it. I cannot tell you how much I loved this book. It deals with a very important subject about female infanticide and the place of women in a conservative society. I could tell the author is passionate about the subject. But in no way does it get overbearing or boring. It's also a page turning mystery where we are kept wondering till the end about how it happened. Although we know what happened by the first page itself, it's still a mystery about why someone would wipe an entire family out. The book is written from 2 viewpoints, Durga's and Simran's. While Durga's writing is serious and dark, Simran's is sarcastic and funny at times. She is a very interesting lady and I especially enjoyed her interactions with her mother. Overall this is a mystery that is different from many mysteries out there because not only is it page turning but it also deals with a very important subject with honesty and fearlessness. My review doesn't do the book justice. You have to read it to see how wonderful it is. Highly recommended. Witness the Night is the winner of 2010 Costa First Novel Award.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: Witness the Night (Paperback)
I was looking forward to reading the winner of the 2010 Costa (previously Whitbread) First Novel Award as I have enjoyed most of the novels that have been successful in the past in being awarded a Costa/ Whitbread prize.
As well, it is set in India and I have long been a follower of Indian fiction. But this is no Pratibha Ray, no Rohinton Mistry. Although the subject of Kishwar Desai's first novel, "Witness the Night" promises a look inside the thinking behind the preference of bearing sons over daughters, and the practice of killing female embryos and newborns, the novel does not convince. Instead we read of a green-eyed seducer, corrupt police, high school enemies and a heroine who is a cigarette smoking semi-alcoholic forty five year old unpaid social worker who is investigating a murder of 13 people, and who ends up sleeping with a thirty year old journalist. Not my cup of tea!
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