A sketch of Rabindranath Tagore with his wife Mrinalini

With every page turn, Aruna Chakravarti’s book Daughters of Jorasanko recreates the era between 1859 and 1902, engaging us with stories of Jnanadanandini, the wife of Rabindranath Tagore’s elder brother Satyendranath, who was a strong influence in the nobel laureate’s life. There are also part-fictional accounts of the lives of his other sister-in-law, Kadambari, his wife Mrinalini and the many women who influenced him. The story is set in Jorasanko, the ancestral home of the Tagores. “The brilliant women of the family have remained hidden in the shadows while the men have basked in limelight,” says Chakravarti. The book is a sequel to Chakravarti’s 2013 title, Jorasanko. Excerpts from a chat with the author: