The Forest of Enchantments by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

The Ramayana has been told for three thousand years, almost always by and about men. In The Forest of Enchantments, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni hands the narration to Sita — and the epic becomes a different story, one about what was asked of her and what it cost.

What to expect

• The Ramayana retold in Sita’s own voice, from childhood in Mithila to the final departure
• Her marriage to Ram, the exile, the abduction by Ravan, and the trial by fire
• The women the epic usually leaves in the margins — Kaikeyi, Surpanakha, Mandodari, Ahalya — given interior lives
• A companion piece to the author’s The Palace of Illusions, which did the same for the Mahabharata through Draupadi

Who it’s for

Readers of mythological retellings — Madeline Miller, Amish Tripathi, Devdutt Pattanaik — book clubs, and anyone who grew up with the Ramayana and has wondered what Sita thought of it. No prior knowledge of the epic is required.

Edition details

• Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 9789353573577
• Language: English

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