Lalee is a sex worker at the Blue Lotus brothel in Calcutta's biggest red-light district, Shonagacchi. Tilu Shau, her most loyal client and a far-from-bestselling author of erotic fiction, longs to liberate her from the brothel by offering her marriage. His plan is scuttled when one of the prostitutes, Mohamaya Mondol, is murdered. Her death opens a vacancy and Lalee is offered a room on the top floor along with the chance to be an A-category sex worker.

The move promises to catapult her into the big league, a life of luxury, wealth and access. But it only sends her tumbling down into a vortex of corruption and violence controlled by a perverted godman, Maharaj.

An NGO, Nari Shakti Vahini, joins hands with the Sex Workers' Collective to demand justice for the dead girl, even as the police, led by the largely incompetent Samsher Singh, who hopes the to-do will blow over. But then the media picks up the story and Inspector Singh is under pressure to do something.

Will he rise to the occasion? Will there be any justice for the dead girl?



The book is written in the 3rd person omniscient past tense PoV of Lalee, Tilu and Samsher. The title of the book refers to how the French describe an orgasm as a small death. But I also saw it as referring to the deaths of all the people who died and those whose lives were destroyed by the government's decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000.

The book, set in the aftermath of demonetisation, reminds us of the struggles faced by sex workers, a group of people that no one cared about, when their clients suddenly found themselves unable to pay. The book reminds us how this draconian policy destroyed millions of ordinary lives, costing people untold sums of hard-earned money. The small deaths, even as the government congratulated itself on a decision that killed the economy, refers to the deaths of these people too.





I didn't care much for Lalee, but Tilu grew on me. Tilu has an enduring love not only for Lalee, but also for Kolkata, his enduring muse. He longs to write fiction set in a time before the city was born, but his publisher demands he spend time writing erotica.

I also liked Samsher at the beginning. He doesn't want to be a hero, to save the trafficked girls or clean up the city. He barely has the guts to stand up to his own mother. All he wants to do is to accept bribes and live an easy life. He's not very bright and can barely ask the right questions during an investigation. Unfortunately, his character arc didn't progress at all.





Even though the book is written in English, it captures well the mood and the vibe of the locale, as if English were just another Indian language. The tone of the book is partly critical, partly indulgent. The authorial eye has no patience for Grown men with hands inside their pants...such a commonplace scene in metropolitan Calcutta that no one had paid him any attention.



The writing was good. Sample these:

Creative energy, like a gassy stomach, will make itself known.

We are an expletive; a whole population of women connected only by their livelihood reduced to a single word of offense... every woman is turned into a profanity.

The fact that they built lives and homes there in the midst of their sordidness is described as A mangled, tenuous dignity, one with tread marks all over it, but sometimes even that is a lot.





The subject, which revolves around the trafficking of girls as young as seven years of age, is sordid and can drive one to despair, but the author doesn't let anything get in the way of her story. She also makes the point that sex workers don't always need saving, unless they are minors. They just need space to be, to live their lives without being criminalised, even as the clients get away scot-free.

The author makes a case for letting them live their lives with dignity, and mentions the hatred that respectable middle-class women held in their hearts for prostitutes. People like us who speak out from our positions of privileged innocence.

Even the men who sleep with the prostitutes are not spared by the author. Lalee reflects on how prior to committing the sexual act, some customers wanted to know their names, their stories. Hunting for a story, for a fleshy bit of human tragedy. But Lalee, when pressed in this manner, always gives a fake story. When you lost everything, your name and your story were the only unoccupied country.



I couldn't understand the focus on Vishal Currimbhoy, the husband of Deepa Marhatta, who runs the Sex Workers' Collective. Why were there chapters devoted to him, when he had nothing to do with the plot of the story? Incidentally, Vishal is a Hindu name, and Currimbhoy is a Khoja Muslim name. Yet the author tells us that Vishal is a Parsi, which doesn't sound right.

We are also given a peek into Samsher's life, his relationship with his mother and wife. Again, this glimpse didn't fit in with the plot.

The book began well, and the middle was strong too, but towards the end, it seemed to lose steam. We get no closure on what happened to the seven-year-old twin girls kidnapped at the ashram, and even though Lalee is the protagonist, we feel emotionally invested in those girls. Also, was the godman punished, or did he get away? There were too many questions left unanswered. I was disappointed in the ending.

Lalee is a sex worker in Calcutta and she has dreams of a different life. Tilu is her client and a novelist. He wants to take her away from this life by marrying her. But, she doesn’t have feelings for him like he has for her. One day her coworker died and her madam offered Lalee her position. She will work as a high paid escort. What she discovers is that the change of position isn’t much different and it might be more dangerous. Tilu is more determined to save her. A remarkably written story about a woman and what she has to do to survive. This story will take the reader on an emotional journey.

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Crossing for this review copy, I received this review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is not an easy read as this story touches on the sex-workers in infamous red light districts of Calcutta. Despite this being a fiction, the author did not shy away from the horrendous conditions and experiences from these sex workers that are very real. It is an uncomfortable read but also important to highlight the reality of such cruelty.

Lalee was sold off as a young girl to a brothel owner, Shefali at Blue Lotus. She had been forced to sell herself under horrendous conditions with little rewards and Lalee longs to be free and live a better life. Despite this, she had a favourite client, Tilu, who was an erotic novelist looking for inspiration in Blue Lotus by spending time with Lalee. When a fellow sex worker was found brutally murdered, Lalee was instantly offered to take over her place with promise of a more lucrative life but it all comes at a cost and that cost could very well be Lalee’s life.

Reading this allowed me to see how prostitution is accepted as a way of life in certain parts of India and how people are so desensitized by the abuse, power dynamics, corruption and shame faced by these women. There is no support from the community as authorities chose to turn a blind eye as long as they are paid. These women are left to fend for themselves, helpless with no way out. They can only rely on each other for support not matter how small, the sense of camaraderie and friendship is welcoming.

As much as these women look out for each other, they all also have one goal in mind - to survive. Let’s not forget these women were trafficked as a children and have been groomed and abused ever since. It’s sickening and frustrating to know their lives and future have been blatantly taken away from them.

Despite feeling hopeless, these women shows signs of strength and resilience. They still try to live their lives to the fullest. They still try to seek normalcy amongst their misfortune and most of all, they dare to dream.

Thank you Netgalley and Amazon Crossing for the arc.

The writing is good but the subject matter just isn't for me. Reading all the misogynistic attitudes towards the women in this book makes me both so sad and very angry. I would try another book from this author, just not one about the same thing.

The setting was gritty, the language evocative, and the characters were real. It wasn't my cup of tea but that rests solely on my taste and no failing on the part of the book. For those seeking a classic noire in an unexpected setting, this is the book for you!

I read a few chapters but it was not a very easy read due to TW. I couldn’t read more because it was too much for me but I think if you really enjoy books like this, you should give it a try.

TW: sex trafficking, child abuse, r*pe

I think it's very good at representation!

Small Deaths is a story that pulls you in. It is set in the seedy side of Calcutta and brings together a prostitute named Lalee and the poor erotic writer who falls in love with her, Tilu. But Lalee doesn't want Tilu and is focused on the murder of one of the prostitutes who lives in the building where Lalee lives and works. The story is about Lalee's focus on the murder, Tilu's focus on Lalee, and how both of them get a kind of unexpected resolution.

Small Deaths is a fascinating book examining sex workers and their attendant industry. The novel unfolds in Calcutta, India. An unknown author Tilu strives for fame by visiting a house of prostitution and befriending a worker named Lalee. Shortly after that, one of the workers is murdered, but due to the influential owners and institutions surrounding the sex industry, no progress is made to find the culprit. The owners have little interest in the workers' safety and hygiene, and the workers' families are disgraced at what their daughters have become. A close examination of the sex industry in India renders a genuinely depressing and frightening picture of what happens right under our eyes. Small Death is an eye-opening story that saddens and enrages at once—the mark of an excellent writer and novelist.

Das' novel brings normalcy to a place that society looks upon as a stain in most instances, even if it is a 'necessary' stain.

What I enjoyed the most is that Das writes these women and their sex worker community as just another community, no more or less than any other. There is support, comedy, arguments, and children. There are friendships, jealousy, and understanding.

Through the lens of the narrators, we see the machinery that is sex work and the sex trade. Das depicts this multi-armed business through her prose which becomes the main character. She uses the sex workers, police, madam, handlers and traffickers, and the organizations working for worker rights vs morality to show the complexity of being a sex worker.

This is not a character-driven book, but it does use its named characters to build the red light district, its reputation and what goes on within its rooms, and who feeds the desires while ignoring the vulnerable and their choices.

She writes the violence that is a primary presence in the lives of these women with both clarity and realistic compassion, cementing the bonds between these women and their determination to bring justice to the streets they work.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The premise of the book drew me in but once I started reading it, I just couldn’t get into it at all.
I wish the author, publisher and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

🔹 My take: 3/5

TW: Sex trafficking, rape, child abuse

🔸 Small Deaths is based on the backdrop of Shonagachhi, the red light area of Calcutta. It traverses through Blue Lotus brothel and shows lives of prostitutes, their dreams and struggles. Put in this mix some murders, sex trafficking, the lax attitude of police, an NGO / collective and a rogue sadhu cheating in the name of religion. And you get a peek in this intricate dangerous world of lies, deceit and politics.

💫 This book was released last year in India and was titled as ‘A death in Shonagachhi’. This debut by Rijula Das has won loads of accolades and awards. It’s a brave attempt by author to write about such a sensitive topic and she has handled it quite well. The detailing in book is great. It explores a community and their daily upheavals to survive. It was already mentioned by the author earlier that this is not a murder mystery and hence I did not go into it thinking that, so no disappointments.

💔 It was easy for me to read through since I understand Indian slang but there are too many words specific to Bengal culture / Hindi that would be difficult for all to understand. I found there were too many characters in the book and hence at some point it was difficult to keep a track of all of them. E.g.: story of Vishal & Deepa or Samsher & his wife were not warranted for the plot. Hence, somewhere in middle, I lost interest. The story picked up pace again in last 20% but I kept getting nervous as to how all the open ends will be tied in few remaining pages. Unfortunately, there was no closure to many parallel running stories and hence I felt reader has been left in a limbo.

💗 I guess this book could make a good web series where all the intricacies covered by the story can be explored and each character can get its screen space. Since this book is from noir genre, it is not for faint hearted or idealists and readers should make a note of that before jumping into this dark abyss.

Thank you @netgalley @amazoncrossing for gifting the eARC in exchange of honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is not the normal kind of book I would pick up, but I was in the book for something different. This book certainly delivered. It was a refreshing take on India and a beautiful portrayal of the struggles sex workers face. I enjoyed the prose—it was simplistic yet wonderfully atmospheric. However, I do wish that there was some more action in the book and less set-up. The pacing felt a little off.

Small Deaths is a whirlwind of honest and empathetic writing about pain, sex work, gender, and injustice. It dwells a lot in quiet moments, so it's a fit for readers who like deep dives and philosophical musings. While the pacing is slower, it leaves space for the necessary nuance. The setting was unique and not one I see a lot in other books. Gritty isn't quite the right word--as nothing feels gratuitously shocking--but this isn't a light story by any means. I loved the writing style and all the small details, although some descriptions ("Lalee bolted from her perch faster than a fourteen-year-old's ejaculation", for example) pulled me out of the story.

I do recommend for readers who want a dark and raw story about a little-explored type of life.

read the first chapter but couldn't really get into it. think this is a case of "it's me and not you", just couldn't connect personally with the writing or the story. DNF'd.


Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for supplying me with an arc for my honest review.

I was incredibly intrigued by this book. As I've mentioned previously, I'm often upset by the representation of Indians in literary media and was very excited about this. I think the representation in this was excellent. The author does an incredible job of diving into the underbelly of Kolkata, and writing Indians the way they deserve to be written: as raw, honest characters, who are dimensional and not reduced down to their culture and skin color.
I've never read a book like this, and honestly would have enjoyed this, except for the fact that it was just too long. Perhaps too long is not the correct term, as it was a fairly average sized book, but there was far too much exposition only for the primary action to start over halfway through. That honestly made what should have been a great book a slog to get through.

Disclaimer: I received a free ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair, and honest review.

This book is like nothing I've ever read before.

Intimate and striking, this novel follows several characters as they react to the death of a sex worker. Using switching pov chapters to depict the way in which the world around the Blue Lotus brothel reacts to the horrific crime. We are shown how corruption festers within the police force and the sex industry, exploration coming from both bad actors and people who the main characters trust to protect them.

This is a beautifully sympathetic portrayal of sex workers and their struggles. Arguing strongly that they deserve the same safety as any other type of work and showcasing how criminalisation, demonisation and a lack of safety precautions is a death sentence rather than a saving grace for the industry.

This novel is an unflinching portrayal of the horrors and injustice that sex workers face when their work is kept to the dark sides of society. If you are at all interested in the intricacies of the sex industry debate this novel is essential reading.

(Trigger warnings for this novel include: sex trafficking, abuse, childhood sexual abuse, rape, misogyny, gaslighting, coercion, and police misconduct/brutality.)