Balli Kaur Jaswal

Rajni, Jezmeen y Shirina son tres hermanas de ascendencia punyabí nacidas y criadas en Inglaterra. Nunca tuvieron mucho trato de pequeñas, y ahora que son adultas se han distanciado aún más. Su madre les ha pedido un ultimo deseo antes de morir: que hagan juntas una peregrinacion hasta el Templo Dorado de Amritsar y cumplan alli con los rituales que ella no pudo realizar. Forzadas a reconectar entre si y con sus raices y siguiendo las instrucciones y el itinerario dejados por su madre, las hermanas Shergill iran descubriendo aspectos inesperados sobre si mismas, su madre, su pasado y su identidad.

Hilarious and heartwarming, an east-meets-west novel for fans of The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul Every woman has a secret life...When Nikki takes a creative writing job at her local temple, with visions of emancipating the women of the community she left behind as a self-important teenager, she's shocked to discover a group of barely literate women who have no interest in her ideals. Yet to her surprise, the white dupatta of the widow hides more than just their modesty - these are women who have spent their lives in the shadows of fathers, brothers and husbands; being dutiful, raising children and going to temple, but whose inner lives are as rich and fruitful as their untold stories. But as they begin to open up to each other about womanhood, sexuality, and the dark secrets within the community, Nikki realises that the illicit nature of the class may place them all in danger. East meets west and tradition clashes with modernity in a thought-provoking cross-cultural novel that might make you look again at the women in your life..

In 1971, a teenage girl briefly disappears from her house in the middle of the night, only to return a different person, causing fissures that threaten to fracture her Punjabi Sikh family. As Singapores political and social landscapes evolve, the family must cope with shifting attitudes toward castes, youth culture, sex and gender roles, identity and belonging. Inheritance examines each family members struggles to either preserve or buck tradition in the face of an ever-changing nation.

The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singaporean Short Stories: Volume Five gathers the finest Singaporean stories published in 2019 and 2020, selected by guest editor Balli Kaur Jaswal from hundreds published in journals, magazines, anthologies and single-author collections.

Pin must not become like her mother, but nobody will tell her why. She seeks clues in Mas cooking when shes not fighting other battlesbeing a bursary girl at an elite school and facing racial taunts from the bus uncle. Then her meddlesome grandmother moves in, installing a portrait of a watchful Sikh guru and a new set of house rules. Old secrets begin to surface but can Pin handle learning the truth?

Singapur, 1971. Amrit, una joven adolescente, desaparece de su casa en plena noche. Aunque su ausencia es breve, regresa convertida en una persona diferente. El episodio provoca una auténtica grieta que amenaza con fracturar a su familia, sij y de origen punyabi. En las dos decadas siguientes, asistimos a la evolucion del panorama politico y social de Singapur durante el periodo de 1970 a 1990 , mientras la familia de Amrit debe afrontar los cambios de mentalidad de la sociedad con respecto a las castas, la cultura juvenil, el sexo, los roles de genero, la identidad o el sentido de pertenencia a la comunidad. Legado analiza la lucha de cada uno de los miembros de la familia por preservar o rebelarse contra la tradicion en un pais en constante transformacion.

Rajni, Jezmeen y Shirina son tres hermanas de ascendencia punyabí nacidas y criadas en Inglaterra. Nunca tuvieron mucho trato de pequeñas, y ahora que son adultas se han distanciado aún más. Su madre les ha pedido un ultimo deseo antes de morir: que hagan juntas una peregrinacion hasta el Templo Dorado de Amritsar y cumplan alli con los rituales que ella no pudo realizar. Forzadas a reconectar entre si y con sus raices y siguiendo las instrucciones y el itinerario dejados por su madre, las hermanas Shergill iran descubriendo aspectos inesperados sobre si mismas, su madre, su pasado y su identidad.

Singapur, 1971. Amrit, una joven adolescente, desaparece de su casa en plena noche. Aunque su ausencia es breve, regresa convertida en una persona diferente. El episodio provoca una auténtica grieta que amenaza con fracturar a su familia, sij y de origen punyabi. En las dos decadas siguientes, asistimos a la evolucion del panorama politico y social de Singapur durante el periodo de 1970 a 1990 , mientras la familia de Amrit debe afrontar los cambios de mentalidad de la sociedad con respecto a las castas, la cultura juvenil, el sexo, los roles de genero, la identidad o el sentido de pertenencia a la comunidad. Legado analiza la lucha de cada uno de los miembros de la familia por preservar o rebelarse contra la tradicion en un pais en constante transformacion.

Nikki, hija de inmigrantes indios, ha pasado la mayor parte de su vida distanciada de la tradicional comunidad sij de su infancia, optando por una vida ma?s independiente y occidental en Londres. Un error provoca que al curso de escritura creativa que imparte se apunte un grupo de viudas sijs. La aparicio?n accidental de un libro de relatos ero?ticos revela que, bajo sus dupattas blancas, sus alumnas albergan un sinfi?n de fantasi?as y recuerdos. Deseosa de liberar a estas modestas mujeres, les ensen?a a expresar sus historias, dando rienda suelta a una creatividad de lo ma?s inesperada y excitante. El grupo debe mantener el secreto ante la Hermandad, un grupo de autoproclamados polici?as morales de la comunidad. Pero cuando los cotilleos de las viudas ofrecen revelaciones sobre la muerte de una joven esposa y parte de la obra ero?tica creada por la clase se comparte, se desata un esca?ndalo que los amenaza a todos.

Nikki, hija de inmigrantes indios, ha pasado la mayor parte de sus veintitantos años distanciada de la tradicional comunidad sij de su infancia, optando por una vida más independiente y occidental en un barrio de Londres.Un error de comunicacion provoca que al curso de escritura creativa que imparte en el centro comunitario se apunte un grupo de viudas sijs que esperan aprender ingles basico. La aparicion accidental de un libro de relatos eroticos revela que, bajo sus dupattas blancas, sus alumnas albergan un sinfin de fantasias y recuerdos. Deseosa de liberar a estas modestas mujeres, les enseña a expresar sus historias, dando rienda suelta a una creatividad de lo mas inesperada y excitante. El grupo debe mantener el secreto ante la Hermandad, un grupo de autoproclamados policias morales de la comunidad. Pero cuando los cotilleos de las viudas ofrecen revelaciones sobre la muerte de una joven esposa y parte de la obra erotica creada por la clase se comparte, se desata un escandalo que los amenaza a todos.Oriente choca con Occidente y la tradicion choca con la modernidad. Una historia intercultural e intergeneracional, picante y sugerente, oscura pero comica, que rompe estereotipos. Con toques de misterio, thriller, romance, drama familiar y erotica. Como un buen curry bien cargado de especias.

The author of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows follows her acclaimed America debut with this life-affirming, witty family dramaan Indian This Is Where I Leave Youabout three Punjabi sisters embarking on a pilgrimage to their homeland to lay their mother to rest.The British-born Punjabi Shergill sistersRajni, Jezmeen, and Shirinawere never close and barely got along growing up, and now as adults, have grown even further apart. Rajni, a school principal is a stickler for order. Jezmeen, a thirty-year-old struggling actress, fears her big break may never come. Shirina, the peacemaking "good" sister married into wealth and enjoys a picture-perfect life.On her deathbed, their mother voices one last wish: that her daughters will make a pilgrimage together to the Golden Temple in Amritsar to carry out her final rites. After a trip to India with her mother long ago, Rajni vowed never to return. But shes always been a dutiful daughter, and cannot, even now, refuse her mothers request. Jezmeen has just been publicly fired from her television job, so the trip to India is a welcome break to help her pick up the pieces of her broken career. Shirinas in-laws are pushing her to make a pivotal decision about her married life; time away will help her decide whether to meekly obey, or to bravely stand up for herself for the first time.Arriving in India, these sisters will make unexpected discoveries about themselves, their mother, and their livesand learn the real story behind the trip Rajni took with their Mother long agoa momentous journey that resulted in Mum never being able to return to India again. The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters is a female take on the Indian travel narrative. "I was curious about how different the trip would be if it were undertaken by women, who are vulnerable to different dangers in a male-dominated society," Balli Kaur Jaswal writes. "I also wanted to explore the tensions between tradition and modernity in immigrant communities, and particularly how those tensions play out among women like these sisters, who are the first generation to be raised outside of India."Powerful, emotionally evocative, and wonderfully atmospheric, The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters is a charming and thoughtful story that illuminates the bonds of family, sisterhood, and heritage that tether us despite our differences. Funny and heartbreaking, it is a reminder of the truly important things we must treasure in our lives.

Reese Witherspoons Book Club PickA lively, sexy, and thought-provoking work of cultural heritage fiction about community, friendship, and womens lives at all agesa spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls.Every woman has a secret life . . .Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, shes spent most of her twenty-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her fathers death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a "creative writing" course at the community center in the beating heart of Londons close-knit Punjabi community.In this heartwarming story of a found family, a miscommunication means the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpectedand excitingkind.As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the communitys "moral police." But when the widows gossip turns them into amateur sleuths with shocking insights into the death of a young wifea modern woman like Nikkiand some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.

Crazy Rich Asians meets The Help!From Reeses Book Club veteran Balli Kaur Jaswal comes a wildly entertaining and sharply observed story of three women who work in the homes of Singapores elite, and band together to solve a murder mystery involving one of their own.Tender and heartfelt, Now You See us also manages to be laugh-out-loud funny. An uplifting story of courage and hope that will keep you enthralled until the very last page.Jean Kwok, New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee"A truly irresistible read. Intricately plotted, propulsive, and provocative, NOW YOU SEE US showcases an author at the peak of her talents."--Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of CounterfeitCorazon, Donita, and Angel are Filipina domestic workerspart of the wave of women sent to Singapore to be cleaners, maids, and caregivers.Corazon: A veteran domestic worker, Cora had retired back to the Philippines for good, but she has returned to Singapore under mysterious circumstances. Now shes keeping a secret from her wealthy employer, who is planning an extravagant wedding for her socialite daughter.Donita: Barely out of her teens, this is Donitas first time in Singapore, and shes had the bad luck to be hired by the notoriously fussy Mrs. Fann. Brazen and exuberant, Donitas thrown herself into a love affair with an Indian migrant worker.Angel: Working as an in-home caregiver for an elderly employer, Angel is feeling blue after a recent breakup with the woman she loves. Shes alarmed when her employers son suddenly brings in a new nurse who may be a valuable ally...or meant to replace her.Then an explosive news story shatters Singapores famous tranquilityand sends a chill down the spine of every domestic worker. Flordeliza Martinez, a Filipina maid, has been arrested for murdering her female employer. The three women dont know the accused well, but she could be any of them; every worker knows stories of women who were scapegoated or even executed for crimes they didnt commit.Shocked into action, Donita, Corazon, and Angel will use their considerable moxie and insight to piece together the mystery of what really happened on the day Flordelizas employer was murdered. After all, no one knows the secrets of Singapores families like the women who work in their homes

Corazón, Donita y Ángel son trabajadoras domésticas filipinas que, como tantas otras, dejaron su país para cuidar los hogares de las familias más ricas de Singapur. La veterana Corazón, o Cora, acaba de regresar a Singapur. Decidida a pasar desapercibida, Cora oculta a su nueva empleadora los verdaderos motivos que la llevaron a volver. Donita es una joven que acaba de llegar al pais y ya ha tenido la suerte de encontrar una jefa que es una arpia. Pero Donita es demasiado guapa e impetuosa como para dejarse dominar. Angel sufre por la ruptura con su novia mientras cuida de su anciano jefe y lidia con la nueva enfermera contratada, alguien que puede convertirse en una gran aliada... o en la persona que le robe su trabajo.Y entonces Flordeliza Martinez, otra empleada filipina, es arrestada acusada de asesinar a su jefa. Sabiendo que cualquiera de ellas podria enfrentarse a una injusticia similar, Corazon, Donita y Angel deciden investigar lo que realmente sucedio.Despues de todo, nadie conoce mejor los secretos de un lugar que las mujeres que viven a su sombra.