THE GRANDDAUGHTER PROJECT

📑 : 259

🔖 : #historicalfiction

⭐ : 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

⚠️TW: Rape, War, Nazism, Racism👵

Have you ever wondered how our grandmothers have survived gender insensitivity in their days? About how much has changed now and how much more has to be changed for our future women?

👵 This book narrates the fictionalized story of three female survivors of world’s greatest tragedies. Each of these women have their own story, but they are all linked by different forms of patriarchal abuse, prejudice or oppression. Helga, a holocaust survivor, was separated from her family during childhood and experienced the horrors of WWII. Kamala belongs to a poor Bengali family, with an abusive alcoholic father. They find themselves hungry and homeless during the Bengal Famine. She survives the famine, but is deserted by her husband. Lynette arrives in London from the Caribbean coasts with her mother Pam, but faces racial discrimination. After her mother’s death, she struggles to survive and gets beaten up during the Notting Hill riots.

👵 Each story depicts a female character who refuses to surrender to the societal norms and stands tall! Their attempts to fight sexism are met with blatant anger and protests. All three suffered the wrath of a male-dominated society, despite being eons apart! How they try to secure the future generations and continue to protect them after their death forms the crux of the book.

👵 Shaheen has written an absolute masterpiece. Kamala, Helga, Lynette and Maya are some of the strongest fictional characters I’ve come across! The letters written by them to their grand-daughters explain how their past has shaped their present and answers their question “Why am I like this?”.

👵 This heart-wrenching book will kick you in the guts, punch your morals and make you question the societal taboos. They teach you about the courage the grandmothers have undergone in order to make sure their grand-daughters don’ts suffer the same. And if at all they wander off track, they have the letters to remind them. I highly recommend this book!