I read this novel because I enjoy being transported to different places and cultures. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal reveals the immigrant experience in Britain, particularly in the Sikh community of London’s Southall. The protagonist, Nikki, a law school dropout, is caught between her modern, more feminist values and the traditional values of her Punjabi family. To support herself while she figures out what she’s doing with her life, she lives above the bar she works in. Her sister, Mindi, is more conservative than Nikki and wants an arranged marriage. Mindi has Nikki place an ad on the matrimonial board at Southall’s Sikh temple. While there, she sees a posting for someone to teach creative writing two evenings a week. She’s hired and gets more than she bargained for.

She ends up teaching Punjabi widows who are isolated because of their widowhood, and the class becomes a safe place they can gather and be themselves. Nikki realizes they are mostly illiterate and resistant to being taught the alphabet like they were children, not at all capable of writing their stories themselves. The women wish to tell stories and have them recorded, but Nikki’s mind is blown at how erotic nature of the stories. Nikki gets involved with the women and their storytelling, embraces on a new love affair, and untangles a mystery. The stories themselves place her and her students in danger from local thugs that police local women to ensure they follow strict Sikh behavioral guidelines and Nikki herself from the actual murderer.

This multi-generational novel is witty and charming. I recently read a book that I felt tried to be too many things. Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows juggles many balls, most of them quite well. It uses humor to explore serious issues: oppression, and policing of Punjabi women, women’s rights, the need and desire for intimacy at many age levels. There are hysterical scenes discussing the use of ghee, eggplants, and cucumbers in the bedroom. The widows’ wishful sexy stories are printed in italics, so they’re easy to skip over if you don’t like erotica, but I found nothing in them that was truly objectionable and the naivety of the widows’ erotica is delightful. The weak point was the murder mystery that didn’t quite live up to the rest of the novel.

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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is available through: Amazon | B&N