The Daughters of Madurai

The critically acclaimed novel, now in paperback, is both a heartrending family story and a page-turning mystery about the secrets we must keep to protect those we love. Spanning from 1990s South India to 2019 in Australia, the novel follows Janani, a mother who will do anything to save her unborn daughter, and Nila, a young woman who embarks on a life-changing journey of self-discovery.

Madurai, 1992. A young mother in a poor family, Janani is told she is useless if she can't produce a son—or worse, if she bears daughters. They let her keep her first baby girl, but the rest are taken away as soon as they are born, and murdered. But Janani can't forget the daughters she was never allowed to love. Sydney, 2019. Nila has a secret, one she's been keeping from her parents for too long. Before she can say anything, her grandfather in India falls ill and she agrees to join her parents on a trip to Madurai. Nila knows very little about where her family came from or who they left behind. What she's about to learn will change her forever. While this novel explores the harrowing issue of female infanticide, it's also a universal story about the bond between mothers and daughters, the strength of women, and the power of love in overcoming all obstacles.

Fans of historical and contemporary fiction novels about India such as Alka Joshi's The Henna Artist from the Jaipur Trilogy and Thrity Umrigar’s The Space Between Us, as well as Kristin Hannah’s books exploring sisterhood and mother-daughter relationships, will enjoy Variyar’s poignant debut. This extraordinary work of fiction tells a story that deserves to be read and discussed for years to come.