Anita Agnihotri S The Sickle Is A Reminder Of The Possibilities Of Fiction.
Through The Lives Of Farmers, Migrant Labourers And Activists In Marathi And Western Maharashtra, Agnihotri Illuminates, With Shocking Clarity, A Series Of Intersecting And Overlapping Crises: Female Foeticide, Sexual Assault, The Violence Of Caste, Feudal Labour Relations, Farmers Suicides And Climate Change In All Its Manifestations.
She Infuses A Gripping Fictional Narrative With Anthropology, Geography And Political Economy, Remaking The Form Of The Novel As A Way To Bear Witness.
From Vaishali, Trying To Rebuild Her Life After Her Husband Suicide, To Yashwant, A Dhaba Owner Driven To Activism By His Mother S Murder, Agnihotri S Indictment Of Indian Society Is Grounded In Individual Lives.
Formally Radical, Incendiary And Deeply Humane, This Novel Tells The Darkest Truths About Contemporary India.