Three Mornings — Neil Deuchar

Description

A haunting literary fiction set in post-war India, Three Mornings is a searing exploration of gender, power, sexuality, and rebellion in a society determined to silence dissent.

In a conservative Keralan village still reeling from the aftermath of British rule, nineteen-year-old Munni is restless, sharp-tongued, and deeply dissatisfied with the life laid out for her. Intelligent and fiercely independent, she questions customs that others obey without thought. Her two forms of dissent are cross-dressing and a fascination with an unlikely heroine, Joan of Arc, whose unwavering commitment to personal truth ignites Munni’s own quiet rebellion.

When her father’s financial recklessness forces her into a marriage of convenience, Munni’s world fractures. Her husband, Jossy, has his own problems, and finds himself trapped by the same rigid traditions that imprison her, and their union exposes the brutal hypocrisies beneath village respectability. As scandal spreads, secrets surface, revealing a community willing to protect power over truth.

Across three pivotal mornings, Munni is dragged from social disgrace to public condemnation, where illegal traditions survive through greed, silence, and misogyny. Told in a non-linear narrative from Munni’s point of view, Three Mornings is both an intimate psychological portrait and a political indictment.

Unflinching yet lyrical, this powerful novelette will resonate with readers of historical fiction, post-colonial Indian literature, and socially conscious literary works that give voice to the silenced, addressing issues of women’s rights in India.

All net proceeds from this book support the Om Shanthi Project in Tamil Nadu, which provides refuge and lifelong care for abandoned widows.

Warning: religious abuse, LGBTQ oppression, widow ostracism, and the devastating cost of challenging entrenched authority.

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