Pink Sari Revolution: A Tale of Women and Power in India
In this prescient look at contemporary Indian society, Mumbai-based Fontanella-Khan follows the case of a young woman arrested on charges of theft who claims she was, in fact, raped by her accuser. Her salvation comes at the hands of a basically illiterate former child bride who is the de facto leader of a grassroots organization of women, the Pink Gang. These primarily poor women in their distinctive saris bring attention to abuses of power on the part of elected officials, private individuals, and the police. They defend the victim and make her a cause célèbre, and soon her case rivets the nation. This story alone makes this title appealing, but Fontanella-Khan also peels back the layers of these women’s lives, revealing private struggles and the insidious manner in which politics and corruption are woven into daily Indian life in a society with no regard for personal rights and a disastrously dysfunctional legal system. Fontanella-Khan masterfully  exposes the complications of Indian life and the ongoing struggle for women to be heard. --Colleen Mondor