Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

Nikki takes a job teaching a creative-writing class to Punjabi widows in Southall, expecting an empty-room formality. Most of her students cannot write, but they can tell stories, and what they want to tell are their own frank, funny, erotic ones. Jaswal uses that premise to open up a community’s rules about widowhood, reputation and female desire, with a darker thread about an unexplained death running underneath. Warmer and sharper than its title suggests.