Coolie Woman, Gaiutra Bahadur

Image description: Screenshot of book cover from "Coolie Woman." Photo of a woman wearing a skirt, blouse with borders, mohar (coin) necklace, with head covered, staring forward and hands placed on knees.

In 1903, a young woman sailed from India to Guiana as a “coolie”—the British name for indentured laborers who replaced the newly emancipated slaves on sugar plantations all around the world.

Pregnant and traveling alone, this woman, like so many coolies, disappeared into history. In Coolie Woman—shortlisted for the 2014 Orwell Prize—her great-granddaughter Gaiutra Bahadur embarks on a journey into the past to find her.

Traversing three continents and trawling through countless colonial archives, Bahadur excavates not only her great-grandmother’s story but also the repressed history of some quarter of a million other coolie women, shining a light on their complex lives.

-Excerpt from The University of Chicago Press (online) about Coolie Woman by Gaiutra Bahadur