What the Body Remembers

"What the Body Remembers" is the story of how India was broken apart into India, West and East Pakistan to satisfy the demands for sanctuary and autonomy by its different religious factions. This epic story unfolds through the story of Roop, the second wife to an older, wealthy Sikh who has spent his government career under British rule. The warring family represents in microcosm the tumult tearing India apart as she fights to survive and grow into independence from British rule. The struggle of new wife against old is the struggle of women within India, striving for dignity and independence in a system that protects them as property.This is a powerful story told in a stirring and poetic voice. The more you learn and care about its central characters, the better you understand the complex forces tearing India apart. Strongly recommended.

I'd highly recommend this book as a MUST READ! As the self-proclaimed #1 Shauna Singh Baldwin fan, I may be slightly biased but this book definitely made an impact on me because I thought about the storyline and the characters for days afterward and has made me yearn for a sequel! Baldwin takes such care in developing her characters and their surrounding environment that the reader is spoiled for other writers!The only remote drawback/complaint I have for What the Body Remembers, is Satya's demise...she was such a complex woman and provided such spice to the book, that I really missed her after her death! Otherwise, this book is almost perfect!

I am lucky enough to be part of the ongoing novel writing workshop where Shauna worked on developing "What the Body Remembers." It's been an amazing experience watching her bring this novel to life. The first time I heard her read the opening sequence, I was knocked out by its emotional power. Shauna is an extraordinarily vivid storyteller. Her words make you feel as if you are standing on a dusty road in India, the sun burning down on you, even when you're sitting in a drafty, slightly musty classroom in a former convent school in the middle of a frigid Milwaukee winter. As someone who's had the honor of getting a sneak peak at this novel - and as a friend and colleague of Shauna's - I highly recommend this powerful, beautifully written novel.

A wealthy Sikh engineer takes a young village girl as a second wife. His first wife, a fierce, beautiful woman who runs most of his properties, has not given him children. The relationship between these three stretch from the final days of Britain's Indian Empire, through the brutal and bloody partition of India, and into, the reader suspects, the next life. `What the Body Remembers" works on several levels. The characters are fully drawn, and live in a believable, richly imagined. English-minded Sardarji (he even has a name for the little British voice that reminds him what is and is not done) can put aside his European teaching when it suits him to take a second wife. Brilliant and manipulative, first wife Satya is his political conscience and his connection to his ancestral lands. Unformed sixteen-year-old Roop, brought on the scene to produce children, will discover the strength of her weakness and may save her family from destruction following the terrifying birth of Pakistan from India. As a political lesson, the novel is also fascinating reading. The characters in "What the Body Remembers" are Sikhs, the religious segment left out in the splitting of the subcontinent into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. Who can they rely on when the bloodshed of Partition begins? This is the kind of book that pulls you in quickly, and does not release you from its spell until the last page. Another wonderful novel about India for those who want to spend more time in the country is Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy"-1,100 pages of pure joy.