Director Sir Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free Productions and Film4, which produced “The Martian”, has bought the film rights to the book. Balli Kaur Jaswal, author of the novel ‘Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows’ (HT Photo)Īccording to The Bookseller, HarperCollins bagged Erotic Stories in a “strong” six-figure deal after staving off five other publishers to win the title at an auction. Her current work was inspired by the time she spent in Southall. Her second novel “Sugarbread” was a finalist for Singapore’s 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize. In 2014, she was named the “Best Young Australian Novelist” by Sydney Morning Herald for her debut novel “Inheritance”. Book cover of the novel ‘Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows’.īalli Kaur Jaswal, the 33-year-old author born in Singapore, is no stranger to literary acclaim. A dark but heart-warming comedy, the novel delves into the lives of Punjabi widows, who may have spent a lifetime being dutiful in the shadows of their fathers, husbands and brothers, but whose white “dupattas” hide their rich and colourful inner lives. Published in March this year, “Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows” is flying off the book shelves in places as far apart as Melbourne and London. And it’s making waves in literary circles across the world. 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.It’s a tale set in Southall, the mini-Punjab in London, written by a woman in Singapore. 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. 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. 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.

Stories of punjabi widows