Review: An Ayah’s Choice

Shahida Rahman, An Ayah’s Choice (Onwe 2022)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60736093-an-ayah-s-choice

Turn-of-the-century aspiring artist Jaya Devani years for a life beyond the confines of her small Indian village of Khesar. Unloved by her beleaguered and widowed mother, Jaya’s only joy is her brother Krishnan and the beautiful forest to which she can escape to create her drawings.
A position as an ayah (nanny) in an English household offers the escape she craves. Colonel William Edmundson is often absent; Memsahib Sara is emotionally erratic and takes laudanum tea to sleep. Jaya falls into a clandestine relationship with William, in his study at night. When the family move to London, she has to choose whether to stay with them or remain in India and marry a friend of her brother’s.
Like many women, Jaya’s subservient position clashes with her independent spirit. If love were the only question, her situation would not be impossible. William’s choices are less than ethical, to say the least, but Jaya continues to buy his justifications. She sees that it is not just the master/servant relationship that causes injustice; she sees William treat his wife as ‘furniture’.
The realities of life outside the study catch up to them, and Jaya finds the realities of life outside the Edmundson house even harsher. In the end it is the support of women that rescues her, and Jaya uses her artistic skill to further the cause of women’s suffrage.
When Jaya falls into William’s arms, I found myself thinking, ‘you idiot’, yet don’t we all often take this path?
After exclusively following Jaya, suddenly Chapter 27 takes up her erstwhile fiancé Rafik’s point of view, and Chapter 28 turns to William’s. It kind of ruins things to see inside William’s head for a bit.
This tale of female empowerment is a well written peek into colonial oppression and women’s oppression across the two countries.
This review was written for Historical Novels Review.