‘Moms’: Shivani Sibal’s novel on domestic abuse upturns the definition of a ‘charmed’ life
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Shivani Sibal’s new novel Moms, set mostly in Delhi, is hard to put down once you start reading it. It sucks you into the vortex of its tumultuous emotional universe, and demands undivided attention.
The book is divided into two parts. The first one is titled “Radhika, Before”, and the second, “After Radhika”. Her tragic suicide is foreshadowed in the prologue. Introducing an event that is so life-altering in the first few pages of a novel is not easy. Sibal’s prose exudes the confidence that comes from knowing how to take the reader along on such a narrative journey.
Manik is a lawyer obsessed with his work and the money that it brings him. Radhika is a full-time wife and mother, left with hardly any time to pursue her own interests. While she resigns herself to this situation and structures her life around her family’s needs, her daughter Samara would rather not have her hovering near her 24/7. Samara says, “Why are you always at school? I hate it. Why don’t you get your own thing, your own life, away from my school? Get a job! Nana educated you, didn’t he?”
Contrasting lives
The author conveys this imbalance through conversations. Since Radhika has little agency at home, she firmly holds on...