The Princess of a Whorehouse: The Story of a Swamp Lotus - Book Review

The Princess of a Whorehouse: The Story of a Swamp Lotus is the story of Aparajita and her mother. The first half is told in the voice of Aparajita’s mother and the second half is narrated from Aparajita’s perspective. Aparajita’s father dies in an accident. A well wisher brings her mother to Delhi and sells her to a pimp. Aparajita’s mother finds a way out of the brothel, into a kind man’s heart. They get married. This ensures a normal life for Aparajita, who can now go to school like any other child. But what happens when her schoolmate comes to know that her mother was into the flesh trade.

The book is a short read. It scores on descriptions. The editing is tight and the story has both a place and flow. Where the author utterly fails is in dialogues. The dialogues are anything but real. So we have a down market pimp saying ‘Hang on for a minute.’ Bookish dialogues like ‘A major explosion occurred there. It’s a fateful day for us,’ steal the realistic setting of the story. Also as depicted in this novella adoption cannot take place by merely signing a paper. I wish the author had researched more on this aspect.

But this book is an easy read. It is one time read for sure.