india hamish hamilton

Translated from the Malayalam by Abhirami Girija Sriram and K.S. Bijukumar Jezebel, a young doctor in Kerala, struggles against the cruel realities of a patriarchal world-realities that not even her education, resolve or professional brilliance can shield her from. Her already contentious divorce proceedings go suddenly awry, and her unhappy marriage holds complex secrets. In K.R. Meera’s blistering new novel, which takes the form of a courtroom drama to show us the rich inner worlds of its characters, we see Jezebel reflect on her life and its pivotal points as she takes the stand. Through her memories, we see her grow from a reticent, serious young woman to a rebel who refuses to bend to the conventions of society. Like the Biblical story of Queen Jezebel, who was much maligned as a scheming harlot and infamously thrown to her death from her palace window, Jezebel is a novel that asks if independent women can ever live lives that are free of judgement K.R. Meera’s hypnotic prose, in this elegant translation from the Malayalam by Abhirami Girija Sriram and K.S. Bijukumar, makes resonant allusions to the Bible in powerful ways that elucidate the correlations between legend and the protagonist’s life while also exploring how sexuality and gender roles are manipulated by the dictates of society.

K.R. Meera (Author)
K. R. Meera is an Indian author and journalist, who writes in Malayalam. She initially worked as a journalist and started writing fiction in 2001. Her first short story collection Ormayude Njarambu was published in 2002. Since then, she has published five collections of short stories, two novellas, five novels and two children’s books.

Abhirami Girija Sriram (Translator)
Abhirami Girija Sriram is an editor and translator. Currently, she is the chief sub-editor of Frontline magazine.

K.S. Bijukumar (Translator)
K.S. Bijukumar is the co-translator of this book, and he lives in Chennai.