Rape of Sita

Banned within hours of publication in her native Mauritius for enraging fundamentalists, Lindsey Collen's pathbreaking The Rape of Sita went on to win the prestigious Commonwealth Prize for Best Novel in Africa. A powerful and stylistically innovative work, Collen's novel exemplifies the brilliant creative possibilities of postcolonial literature. Deftly blending oral and literary traditions, this masterpiece reveals the history, repression and resistance of an entire people through the story of one woman, and introduces to American readers a major literary voice.