The Bandit Queens

by Parini Shroff

But freedom, Geeta had once heard or read somewhere, is what a person does with what’s been done to her.

Sometimes she could be the worst fucking version of herself. Usually, with no one around to suffer the consequences, it went unnoticed. But when she was allowed near people…well, she could sabotage like it was a well-paying job.

For me, fiction is when research meets compassion; I believe this is often why facts don’t change people’s minds, but stories do.

-Parini Shroff, “The Bandit Queens: A Novel”