Synopsis In Shodh unlike her other novels, Taslima Nasrin seeks to revolutionise the concept of love and marriage in the so-called elite yet tradition-bound societies. She effects this through a transformation of roles assigned to women—as lover, wife, mother and daughter-in-law. The story of Jhumur’s marriage to Haroon, therefore, goes beyond the study of a marriage or the fate of a person and raises issues such as: Is love possible without self-respect; What is the relationship among love, desire and marriage; In what way can the established familial relationships be redefined… In this novel, as much as in her other non—fictional works, Nasrin’s personal experience breathes life into the narrative.