Book Review: "The Secret Keeper of Jaipur" by Alka Joshi

 

4/5 stars

*Spoiler alert!*

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur is the second entry in Alka Joshi’s Jaipur trilogy, focusing on our beloved Malik. The former ward of Lakshmi Kumar and Dr. Jay Kumar of Shimla, Malik, is sent as a young 20-something to Jaipur to learn the building trade under the tutelage of the Jaipur Palace Facilities Office and Singh-Sharma Construction. (What a flex on Lakshmi’s part. She has connections.)

 

While Malik is away, Lakshmi takes under her wings former tribeswoman, Nimmi, a widow with two super adorable children, to work with her in the hospital’s healing garden. Not coincidentally, Malik has become close with Nimmi, and both are heartbroken over Malik going to Jaipur.

 

And no, Nimmi is not just a love interest introduced into the story for Malik. She comes to steal the book for me, by a longshot, even though I loved having more Malik-centric chapters. At first, coming to live in Shimla is quite the culture shock.   

“To her, a hill woman accustomed to sleeping in the open air on bedding quilts padded with scraps of old blankets, these two-story Shimla houses, built by the British, must seem obscenely luxurious.” 

Nimmi’s journey as a widow towards self-sufficiency and finding her bravery in unexpected places and situations was a very compelling arc. If not a bit predictable in its ending, because we all knew she was going to ultimately end up with Malek, but she grows so much in the process. Lakshmi teaches Nimmi how to read and write, and Nimmi goes on to unironically treasure books so much. She stole my heart completely when she admits how much she loves books. I love me some unashamed bookworms.

“I never knew there was a place where you could go look at books, much less borrow them, then return them when you are through looking. Imagine! Something that precious!” 

Of course, because Malik is back in Jaipur while Nimmi apprentices with Lakshmi, we have to deal with the Singh family again. I’m still smarting on Lakshmi’s part over Parvati Singh and her awful conduct generally. The sense of entitlement by the upper classes and their attitudes is aptly demonstrated by the Singhs, especially when they feel they are up against the wall. (See the following quote for another Parvati zinger.)

 

“We have important destinies. We are the ones who make or break this country. My family has responsibilities to make sure people like you have food to eat, a roof over your head. Now you’ll leave my family alone, or you’ll have bigger things to deal with—more significant than whether Manu Agarwal is about to lose his job. And you won’t go spreading lies about my son.” 

Oof.

 

Why are the Singhs feeling threatened? Well, their latest project, the Royal Jewel Cinema, collapsed in one of the most awful incidents in Jaipur’s recent history. Malik, being the resourceful investigator he is, finds himself in a position to carefully audit the finances and trace through Singh-Sharma Construction’s building material suppliers, because he doesn’t want Manu Agarwal to take the fall for the whole thing. And what he finds implicates the Singhs and threatens their successful building company. 

“I also realize I’m angry at the injustice of it all. Manu’s signature is on everything. He’ll be held responsible for the greatest calamity Jaipur has known in decades. The Singhs will walk away with only a portion of the blame.” 

While I felt that the parallel narratives of Nimmi and Malek were somewhat clunky in execution initially, I think both plots come together well enough in the end. I love a happy ending in a story that depicts a world full of people willing to engage in a whole bunch of terrible crimes against humanity, whether out of belief in caste or class superiority.

 

I suppose that’s our world in a nutshell, but I like that Joshi still gives readers a sense of hope that there are those out there trying to change the rules and go against the established grains of gender and class roles. I also enjoy immersing myself in Indian culture, one that I didn’t know too much about before. Historical fiction is a great vehicle to inhabit the shoes of different people in different times.

 

I am looking forward to reading the final volume of the trilogy, which focuses on Radha and her new life in Paris. Joshi’s books are like coming home, and this series will probably join the ranks of my comfort re-reads.

  

Happy reading!

 

--BookOwl