The Widows of Malabar Hill

This novel takes place in the early 20th century, an era regarded as the first wave of feminism when women all over the world fought for legal rights, including education, divorce, and suffrage. How are Perveen’s struggles for equality particular to India? How are they similar to women’s struggles in other parts of the world, including in the West?

Massey uses vivid sensory details to bring historical Bombay to life, including descriptions of food. Choose one passage where she describes a meal. How do these details enhance the reading experience? How does she use food to signify culture, kinship, and hospitality—or a lack thereof?

Others often underestimate Perveen, especially men who assume that she is not capable of being an attorney. How does Perveen herself misjudge and underestimate the widows of Malabar Hill? How does she learn from her mistakes? Use specific evidence from the text to support your response.

Perveen loves to ask others about their families, and her family is very important to her. How does her relationship with her family, especially her parents, affect her decisions throughout the novel?

Though Perveen faces struggles due to her gender, her high social class and education often protect her. How do other women in the novel experience less protection due to social class and level of education? Choose a character, and examine her choices compared to the choices available to Perveen.

Perveen is an unlikely detective for 1920s India: she is female, unfamiliar with murder, and unable to practice law in court. How do her perceived weaknesses, such as her gender, become strengths as she solves the crime? Use specific examples from the novel to ground your response.

As a detective novel, The Widows of Malabar Hill uses many tropes of the genre, including the red herring. How do these tropes enhance the novel? What does Massey do in this book that plays on or subverts typical tropes of the genre? Use specific examples to demonstrate how she uses or subverts these tropes.

Many novels depict a heroine fleeing their family of origin to find happiness in marriage. Massey inverts this idea by having Perveen flee an abusive marriage to find happiness in living with her family. How does Massey emphasize communal over romantic love throughout the novel? How does this emphasis connect to the cultural norms Massey explores and the novel’s setting?