The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay

This delightful book tells the story of Somlata, a resourceful eighteen-year-old who marries into the Mitras family. Once the family was noble and grand but now they find themselves in straitened circumstances due to their ability to spend and their inability to see the need to work in order to produce the income to support their habits.  Their grand house is divided into apartments for the various family members and upstairs lives her husband's irascible and formidable widowed aunt.  It is Somlata who discovers the body of Pishima and also her ghost, who tells her to hide her jewels from the rest of her avaricious relatives, and Somlata is an obedient girl.

It also tells the story of Somlata's daughter, Basoma and how she finds her identity and destiny.  As strong and principled as her mother, Basoma is a feisty delight.

I enjoyed this window onto a slice of Bengali life.  There are a number of levels to this story and so it is a rewarding book for both the individual reader and the book club.  I just wish there had been a glossary for all the titles of various family members, although with perseverance I got the hang of it in the end.  Nonetheless, it was a good read.