The Henna Artist

The Henna Artist Lakshmi, the narrator of this engaging and thoroughly enjoyable story, runs away from a forced and brutal marriage at age 15, to begin a new life in post-British1950’s India. Her skills, learned in her home village, eventually lead her to a respectable position as a henna artist painting her beautiful designs on the hands and feet of wealthy matron clients in Jaipur, a large city in the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan. Lakshmi is also skilled in the ways of India’s traditional medicine, which she uses both for healing remedies and to free women from unwanted pregnancies. Radha, a younger sister she didn’t know she had, enters Lakshmi’s life after the death of their parents and their relationship develops in remarkably complex and telling ways. Lakshmi is a classic fictional character, a woman fiercely independent, conflicted with what is right and what is wrong, wringing herself out constantly in an effort to emerge better than she was the day before. To me, she is a powerful image of the human spirit down to its very core. How does such a woman deal with the men of her time that she meets up with along the way? Can Lakshmi resist the cultural patterns set for centuries establishing male-female/husband-wife relationships? Lakshmi is faced with these issues time and time again throughout the story. Her resolve and courage are tested with each encounter, for better or worse. Spiritualism in the 1950’s India and the forces balancing traditional and modern values are also replayed in the story time and time again, each with subtle variations on a theme. The caste system is interpreted by Ms. Joshi is a more gentle way than most accounts, especially lower castes, and many of the issues that faced India’s people during that period are not addressed. The partition of India and Pakistan and the troubles and prejudices that arose with the Muslim community who stayed behind in India after the partition are left untold, leaving the reader with a view of Joshi’s India that is perhaps more ideal than what history can reveal. But India portrayed by Ms. Joshi is indeed a wonderful place for a reader to find himself (I’m a male). Bursting with energy, insightful commentary on all manner of life and living. A remarkable display of the times and places that at once are unraveling and revealing themselves chapter by chapter (with interesting appendices on cultural and historical subjects to boot). It makes me want to get on the next flight from Newark Liberty to Jaipur and have my hands and feet painted by a henna artist. William Klein, PhD New York, NY May 30, 2020 Rating Five Stars

The Henna Artist is about a woman struggling for independence and voice. Lakshmi is the first-person storyteller who was an accomplished henna artist and herbalist. Her story takes place during the 1950s in India after the country had gained independence, but women were still property. It is not historical fiction but rather an imagined history. Lakshmi left her husband Hari since he beat her, primarily for not having children. Leaving her arranged marriage meant that she also left her family and hometown. She had to reinvent herself and establish contacts where she had lacked the network of relatives from her formative years. Lakshmi, meaning goddess of wealth, employed a young boy named Malik to help her obtain supplies and move her business around to her clients. Malik is an endearing character who matures as the plot develops and portrays to Lakshmi, whom he calls "Aunty Boss," how to use relationships to one's advantage without taking advantage of people. I loved how he interacted with clients, women of a higher class. Privileged women appreciated Lakshmi's talents in painting their hands, feet, and other body parts with artistic personalized henna designs. She also peddled herbal contraceptives; for that business, she had men who purchased her sachets for their mistresses. Additionally, Lakshmi provides fertility and abortion treatments. Her many wealthy clients provide enough income for a house but also put her in precarious predicaments. Complicating her life, Lakshmi discovers she has a thirteen-year-old sister that she hadn't known existed. Since she had fled her family in the disgrace of divorce, she had not known her mother had another child. Her sister Radha shows up courtesy of her estranged husband, and Lakshmi becomes the teenager's guardian and experiences all the angst and responsibility that raising an adolescent brings. Her Life becomes even more entangled and complex as she endeavors to continue her business and try her hand at matchmaking. Though the story is sometimes unrealistic, this talented author delves into bloodlines, power and powerlessness, and caste. There are also poignant running themes about reputation and gossip. Then there is much related to ambition, skill, responsibility, betrayal, and moral grounds. This author is a great storyteller; she made her characters come alive and created a page-turner with this novel.

The Henna Artist is a beautifully written and deeply moving story that celebrates resilience, hope, and the power of self-discovery. Alka Joshi brings 1950s Jaipur to life with such rich detail that I felt transported into its vibrant streets and colorful traditions. Lakshmi’s journey is both inspiring and heartwarming—her determination to build her own path, while caring deeply for others, makes her an unforgettable character. This novel left me uplifted and grateful, reminding me of the strength that lies within us all and the beauty of second chances.

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi unfolds like a palm slowly opening—revealing lines of fate, pain, resilience, and hard-won freedom. It delicately unravels the fine, almost invisible threads that hold a woman’s life together in a world determined to tug them apart. Set in a society where women are raised to lean on men for survival, Joshi gives us a protagonist who dares to stand alone—and in doing so, walks on fragile ground. Her reputation is as easily smudged as fresh henna, and gossip trails her relentlessly, clinging like a second shadow. Forced into marriage at fifteen, stripped of choice and voice, she learns early that survival in an abusive, male-dominated world is not about comfort but endurance. More than a single woman’s story, this novel becomes a chorus. It lends its voice to countless women forced into child marriages, trapped in suffocating caste hierarchies, and ensnared by the calculated charm and trickery of exploitative men. Joshi exposes how power disguises itself as protection, how tradition is often weaponized, and how women are expected to bear the consequences in silence. As a henna artist myself, her struggles resonated with me deeply. Time may move forward, but minds often lag behind. A woman’s standing in society remains perilously delicate—one wrong turn, one whispered rumor, and everything she has built can fracture. Yet what makes this story luminous is not just suffering, but dignity. Despite obstacles in work, family, and love, she moves forward with grace and fierce self-respect—head held high, hands steady. She heals and soothes not only with her words, but through her presence—offering a shoulder to lean on, an attentive ear to women burdened with unspoken griefs. Through her art, henna becomes a language of care, Ayurvedic remedies a form of quiet restoration, and even her ingenious practice of hiding healing herbs in sweets and savories turns nourishment into comfort. Her creativity becomes both shield and sanctuary. The Henna Artist is a testament to feminine resilience, to art as survival, and to the quiet power of women who refuse to disappear. It lingers like the deep stain of henna—dark, beautiful, and impossible to erase.

This is a fabulous story, rich in interesting characters and textures. Humor and heart. It brought me back to India, and although set in the late 50s after the partition, there are many things which have not changed. You really get the feeling of how it is to struggle through the eyes of the main character, a henna artist who has escaped her abusive husband. The guilt, and family values, which she holds close to her heart throughout the book while trying desperately to carve out an independent life. I loved this book and it really transported me to another world. HOWEVER. What is WRONG with editors? Grammar, please! This book will have gone through several. A line editor. A proofreader too. The verb i"lay down" DOES NOT EXIST! Not even in "American" English. It is TO LIE DOWN in the present tense. You do NOT "lay down". You lay a table. A hen lays an egg. I LIE down. You LIE down He LIES down etc A LOAN is a noun. A loan. It is NOT a verb! A loan. To LEND. I do not "loan" a book. I LEND a book. Please editors (and authors) go back to your 101 writing class. It is an insult to take a beautiful book like this and cheapen it.

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi is such a good and colorful book. The author's writing is so descriptive and the characters are well developed. This is a story about India and it's culture. I found this so descriptive and really liked that the author has a glossary with definitions of so much about India and a listing of all the characters and who they are (which is helpful). The main character is Lakshmi Shastri who has escaped an abusive arranged marriage and has been in hiding from her family and village so that he will not find her. Lakshimi doesn't even know that she has an younger sister Radha until she shows up on her door step with the abusive husband. Lakshimi has built a life as a very talented Henna artist in a very difficult culture for a single woman. This story brings you in from the very beginning and holds you until the very end. I am happy that book 2 has been written with the 3 in the series to debut next year! Be sure to read at the end a few chapters of the 2 nd book and also several chapters on many of the subjects of India! I can't wait to continue the journey from this great author! This book in part of the Reese Witherspoon book club.

If the reader is familiar with India and all her eccentricities then The Henna Artist will tug at the heart strings in more ways than one. If the reader is new to the culture this book immerses one in sight, sound, and smell that captures and captivates. Weaving an intricate story like the threads of a royal sari against the backdrop of complex human foibles, desires, and fallibilities, Alka Joshi takes us on a monumental journey. Exquisitely written, expertly crafted, it is hard to think that this is her first novel - she has written a masterpiece!

The first part was intriguing and engaging. Not a masterpiece, but a good, enjoyable read. Life in India offers many opportunities for interesting prose. Then, it seems like the story lost its way. The flow of events became thin and not really interesting. Ideas started repeating themselves, and it looks like the ship didn't have a clear direction. Close to the midpoint, I resolved that it wasn't worth my time, and I quit.

What a great read!! Loved it from start to finish!

“The Henna Artist”, is an expressive tale filled with colourful characters, it enlightens the reader on the deeply rooted Indian caste system and the importance of henna as a cultural phenomenon. The storyline is compelling and intense in its portrait of Lakshmi’s struggle for fulfillment in a society rotating between the traditional and the modern. The author paints a picture as beautiful and intricate as Lakshmi’s designs, Lakshmi aims to balance impossible burdens, those curve balls that life throws our way. The setting is in northern India in 1955. The timing is significant since India had become an independent country just about a decade earlier. The nation’s struggle to achieve its own identity is mirrored in the struggle of the novel’s characters to define their own course in life, regardless of the caste they fall into. “The poor weren’t the only ones imprisoned by their caste”. At times the upper castes were so constricted, they too felt imprisoned, everything that glitters is not gold. Lakshmi flees from an abusive marriage at the young age of seventeen finally arriving to the pink city of Jaipur, gaining her independence over time, she is free, becoming a henna artist whose skills are in constant demand with the rich and powerful. The untimely arrival of Lakshmi’s husband Hari with her younger unknown sister Radha in tow turns her life completely upside down and inside out. The novel is mesmerizing, exotic and simply beautiful. What matters in the end is the significance of having the choice to live a fulfilling life, the ability to forgive and to muster the courage and strength to move forward releasing the heavy weight of the past. I throughly enjoyed the rich culture displayed within this book and how it showcases the intricacies in the art of henna as well as India’s food and traditions. Eloquently written, the freedom of choice is a powerful tool, sometimes the impact is positive and sometimes it is not, but there are lessons to be learned from it all, regardless. It’s a story that will captivate your heart. *The glossary of Indian terms proved to be very useful. They are located at the end of the novel. This novel has a couple of recipes at the end as well.

Ein hochinteressanter Roman, in dem ich viel über Indien gelernt habe. Da er Band 1 einer Trilogie ist, habe ich alle drei Bände gelesen. So sehr hat er mir gefallen.

Loved this book and learned so much more about India and it's customs. Wished the story didn't have to end. Really great read - lovely writing style but the subject matter so interesting and a wonderful story. Would make a great movie!

I absolutely love ballsy, flawed and unconventional heroines, who not only subvert against societal norms but do so without apology. This is why I loved the Henna Artist by Alka Joshi so much. The gorgeous descriptive writing was just the cherry on the cake. Set in post-independence India of the 50s, the story chronicles Lakshmi Shastri’s life. This talented henna artist eeks a living painting the bodies and dare I say minds of the rich and privileged women of Jaipur with her art and her ideas, but these are not her only talents. Lakshmi is a healer. Everything she knows about the recuperative power of herbs she learned from her ‘gentle saas’, whom she fondly remembers throughout the book. For a change, it is refreshing to find a book with a positive mother-in-law character. Even though we never actually meet this lady, she sounds perfectly lovely. The start of Lakshmi’s story is all too familiar. A girl born into poverty married off in her teens to a man who is physically and mentally abusive. She stays in the marriage for two years but finally runs away when she can no longer stand it—an act which forever leaves her estranged from her family. Lakshmi escapes to Agra, where she uses her knowledge of herbs to help the courtesans of Agra to keep pregnancies at bay, it is here that she learns the art of making henna. For a while, she paints the bodies of the women she works for, but a chance meeting with a Rajput royal changes everything. And it’s not what you think. Samir Singh recognizes her talent and invites her to Jaipur. He introduces her to his wife Parvati, and through her connections, Lakshmi makes inroads into the upper echelons of Jaipur society. She makes potions and lotions and oils for the ladies, paints their hands and their bodies, for the men, she provides ‘sachets’ that keep their mistresses and their concubines from getting pregnant. Things are going well for thirteen years until one day her ex-husband shows up out of the blue one day and brings with him a shy, waif of a girl, a spitting image of Lakshmi—the sister she never knew she had. Everything turns upside down when Radha enters her life, sometimes for the better, a lot of the time for the worst. The two sisters go on a journey of self-discovery and learn what it is to be a family. There are so many reasons why I loved this book. For one, I am really grateful that the book does not romanticize teenage pregnancies or motherhood. Being a mom is great (I am one), but it is not the end all be all, and there is a point in the story where Lakshmi unabashedly says that her fulfilment in life lies outside these bounds—yes, thank you! I want to see more books where women make choices that defy gender norms. The book also touches on the importance of reproductive rights. It is a human right, and when you do not give women the right to choose for themselves, you rob them of their freedom. I can’t believe we are still fighting for this even today—a sad state of affairs. Lakshmi is smart, talented, hardworking and an astute businesswoman. She is independent and does not depend on a man to provide for her. It is rare to find an Indian book set in the 50s where you have a woman making her way in the world—more of this, please! But above all, Lakshmi has a large heart. She is kind, she is empathetic, and she is non-judgemental. She takes in her sister without hesitation, and (sort of) adopts an orphan boy named Malik. She even forgives her ex-husband for his mistakes and makes peace with Parvathi Singh (her nemesis). I had some problems with the book, but they are nothing major. At times, it almost feels like Lakshmi has god-like powers—she can heal anything! From depression to infertility to dermatitis. Sometimes her remedies are even more effective than modern medicine (really?), but I was happy to let go of my disbelief for everything else that the book offered, which was quite a lot.