THE DOWRY BRIDE
Shobhan Bantwal
Kensington
Fiction
ISBN-10: 0758220316
ISBN-13: 9780758220318

• Critical Praise
• Read a Review
• Read an Excerpt
• Author's Note
• Author Interview -- October 5, 2007

One sultry night, a young bride overhears an extraordinary conversation. The voices speak of a plot to murder a wife who has failed to produce a child and whose family has failed to produce the promised dowry...  

Megha is sick with horror when she realizes she is the intended victim. Her husband --- the very man who tied the sacred necklace of marriage around her neck --- and his mother are plotting to kill her! In the moment of panic, she runs for her life. Frantically racing through Palgaum’s deserted streets, her way lit only by the lights strung up for the Diwali festival, her single goal is to escape death by fire. But fleeing from her would-be killers seems impossible --- unless she can find someone to help her. 

To approach her best friend would bring scandal to an innocent woman's doorstep, and turning to her own strict, conservative family is out of the question. Instead, with nothing but the sari she wears and a memory of kindness, Megha finds her way to Kiran, the one man who has shown her friendship and respect. Hiding her in his apartment, Kiran becomes her protector. But the forbidden attraction that grows between them can only bring more danger. 

Caught between tradition and the truths buried in her heart, a dowry bride will discover the real cost of the only things worth having in life...

THE DOWRY BRIDE © Copyright 2008 by Shobhan Bantwal. Reprinted with permission by Kensington. All rights reserved.

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

Author’s Note

Dear Reader,

India has a rich and diversified culture filled with colorful folklore, gracious people, a delightful profusion of regional cuisines and breathtaking natural wonders. And yet, as shocking as it may seem to the more advanced cultures of the world, the archaic system of dowry is alive and thriving in contemporary India.

Dowry is a gift of cash, valuables and household items presented by the bride’s family to the groom at the time of marriage. It is considered a contribution toward the household expenses of the groom’s family. Although a dowry is not universal among all Indian castes and classes, there are some that practice it very strictly. To this day, it plays a significant role in many of India’s arranged marriages.

Despite a highly educated middle class, the glitzy Bollywood movie and fashion industries, the high-tech and call-center boom that is touted as India’s pride and joy, there is a shameful secret that casts a dark shadow on all those brilliant accomplishments. In spite of a federal law, the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, and its amendments in the 1980s, the dowry has continued to proliferate and become more entrenched.

India’s dowry system is a corrupt and decadent tradition, and yet, its advocates argue that it is merely a method of ensuring equitable distribution of a parent’s estate among daughters and sons. But when one analyzes the crude and inhuman way it is sometimes practiced, it can be viewed as a form of extortion.

As if that were not enough to qualify as a misdeed, if and when a bride’s family fails to produce the expected dowry or falls short of the promised amount, the bride is often abused or tortured or killed by her husband’s family --- and, indeed, may suffer all three, in that order.

Statistics on bride abuse and bride killings are highly skewed because of a large number of cases that go unreported or undocumented. They are often brushed aside as accidents. Corrupt police officials that condone the perpetration by looking the other way serve to add to the travesty of an already distorted legal system. Allegedly, anywhere from 5,000 to 25,000 dowry brides are killed and maimed each year. There is no way to gauge the validity of any of the available statistical data.

Although The Dowry Bride is entirely fictional, some of its elements are based on facts surrounding the dowry system. In narrating the story of my young protagonist, Megha Ramnath, I often placed myself in her shoes, and as a result I experienced her fears, concerns, joys and tribulations. Notwithstanding the drama, adventure and action essential to a work of fiction, I have tried to paint a realistic portrait of a culture that is simple yet complex in many ways, abundant yet lacking in some areas, progressive yet shockingly primitive.

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading and sharing with others The Dowry Bride as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Best wishes,
Shobhan Bantwal

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

Back to top.   

Critical Praise

"Packed with detail…splendidly depicts passion, brutality, and cultures in conflict."

–– Dorothy Garlock

"Vivid, rich…expertly portrays a young woman caught between love and duty, hope and despair."

–– Anjali Banerjee

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

Back to top.