Forest Of Enchantments

The Ramayana, one of the world’s greatest epics, is also a tragic love story. In this brilliant retelling, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni places Sita at the centre of the novel: this is Sita’s version. The forest of enchantments is also a very human story of some of the other women in the epic, often misunderstood and relegated to the margins: ka I key I, surpanakha, Mandodari. A powerful comment on duty, betrayal, infidelity and honour, it is also about women’s struggle to retain autonomy in a world that privileges men, as Chitra transforms an ancient story into a gripping, contemporary battle of Wills. While the Ramayana resonates even today, she makes it more relevant than ever, in the underlying questions in the novel: how should women be treated by their loved ones? What are their rights in a relationship? When does a woman need to stand up and say, ‘enough!’.