The Tiger Ladies: A Memoir of Kashmir - Softcover

Koul, Sudha

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0755311167 ISBN 13: 9780755311163

Publisher: Headline Review, 2002

Synopsis

This remarkable book is the tale of the author's life growing up in a beautiful, remote valley in Kashmir. It is a loving memoir of the exotic food, ancient folklore, bawdy wedding traditions, gossamer-soft pashminas and the rhythms and colours of the valley itself that made up the author's childhood, and the traditional ways that are gradually being lost to younger generations. Set against this is the wider story of Kashmir's painful history, as it is torn apart by fighting between Muslims and Hindus, with repercussions that are being felt across the world today.

This is a story of lost innocence, in which every sentence laments a vanishing way of life. It is a haunting testimony to a beautiful, troubled land.

About this title

Review

"For those who only associate Kashmir with the violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Koul's lovely, elegiac memoir The Tiger Ladies shows that the isolated vale in the Himalayas was a heaven before it became a hell."

"This magical, sensuous memoir ... casts its quiet spell over the reader. The writing is so evocative that you feel you are there, seeing, tasting, touching, and smelling this once enchanted place."

"The Tiger Ladies is immensely, gracefully sad, an elegy for the customs and the courtliness of an irrecoverable civilization. Yet there is a sensuality running through her story ... provided by Ms. Koul's devotion to Kashmiri cuisine and her description of how she has, through her kitchen, sought to keep alive the old Kashmiri ways."

"The Tiger Ladies" is immensely, gracefully sad, an elegy for the customs and the courtliness of an irrecoverable civilization. Yet there is a sensuality running through her story . . . provided by Ms. Koul's devotion to Kashmiri cuisine and her description of how she has, through her kitchen, sought to keep alive the old Kashmiri ways. -Tunku Varadarajan, "The Wall Street Journal"

"For those who only associate Kashmir with the violence that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Koul's lovely, elegiac memoir The Tiger Ladies shows that the isolated vale in the Himalayas was a heaven before it became a hell." -Bryan Walsh, "Time ASIA"

"Sudha Koul's writing is transportive, evoking beautifully the Kashmir we keep in our hearts. Her book is at once a history, memoir, and lesson; the author is both to be congratulated and thanked." -Indira Ganesan, author of "Inheritance" and "The Journey"

Book Description

The first memoir to come out of the troubled land of Kashmir

Edition details

• Publisher: Headline Review
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0755311167
• ISBN 13: 9780755311163
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224