''The Wayward Daughter: A Kathmandu Story'' is a 2018 novel by Shradha Ghale. It was published on 1 December 2018, by

Speaking Tiger Books Speaking Tiger Books (informally Speaking Tiger) is an independent publishing and book distribution company based in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 2014 by Ravi Singh and Manas Saikia, former heads of Penguin India and Cambridge University ...

. It is the debut novel of the author. It is a coming of age story of a girl in 1990s

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

during the

Nepalese civil war The Nepalese Civil War was a protracted armed conflict that took place in the former Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw fighting between the Nepalese royal government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) throughout the country. ...

Synopsis

Sumnima Tamule is a student in Rhododendron High School. Most of her peers are from rich families and are planning to go abroad for their higher education. She is from a middle-class family and got second division in her studies, she has to settle for an obscure college in the city. After Sunmina's poor performance in the exam, her parents expectation falls upon her younger sister, Numa. Subsequently, her cousins from Lungla, a village in remote

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

comes to Sumnina's place fleeing the civil war troubles. Her life is caught in a frenzy amidst all new changes in her household. The book also depicts the class and caste differences in cosmopolitan Kathmandu.

Characters

* Sumnima Tamule—a high school graduate student, major protagonist of the book * Numa—Sumnima's sister * Boju—Sumnima's foul mouthed grandmother * Gajey—Sumnima's father * Premkala—Sumnima's mother * Ganga—Sumnima's cousin * Manlahari—Sumnima's cousin * Sagar Karky—Sumnima's US-returned boyfriend and an RJ * Rajan—Sumina's uncle

Themes

The book depicts the various

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

and caste division within Nepali society. The major character belongs to an indigenous community from Nepal. Although, the community that Sumnima belongs to is fictional, Ghale took inspiration from many other indigenous community of Nepal to create the customs of Tamule family. The book also discrimination of women in a

patriarchal Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of Dominance hierarchy, dominance and Social privilege, privilege are primarily held by men. It is used, both as a technical Anthropology, anthropological term for families or clans controll ...

Nepalese society. The women in the book are bounded by various

gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

s set by the society. The book also shows the impact of the Maoist unrest in the lives of common people in Nepal and how they had to leave their villages and hometown to cities for their safety.

Reception

The book was received positively by critics and readers in Nepal. Uday Adhikari of ''The Gorkha Times'' praised the book as " vibrant piece of social reality". Nandita Bose praised Ghale's writing as "simple, profound, witty and effective" in her review for ''The Deccan Herald''. Richa Bhattarai in her review for ''The Wire'' recommended the book for "an exploration of Nepal over the past few decades through the eyes of a perceptive and skillful writer".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wayward Daughter 21st-century Nepalese novels 2018 Nepalese novels Nepalese novels English books by Nepalese writer Cultural depictions of Nepalese women Nepalese literature in English Novels set in Nepal Novels set in Kathmandu Speaking Tiger books

Synopsis

Characters

Themes

Reception

See also

References