After completing her education and moving back in with her mother and grandfather, Indulekha is now eighteen years old and lives with her grandparents, Panju Menon and Lakshmi Kutty. You will hear over and over again how stunning she is. The image on the cover is unclear, as though it depicts an angel hidden by a cloak. It is a novel that was written 132 years ago, during a time when life for a young woman in a Nair family was quite different from what it is today. In spite of this, O. Chandu Menon's Indulekha manages to take you by surprise in a number of different ways, forcing you to ponder the lives that were led by women in the late 19th century. Or even the account that Chandu Menon gives of it.
It is reported that Chandu Menon sought to produce a "book like English novels” in the introduction to this work, which is recognised as being the first major novel written in the Malayalam language. It was difficult for him to persuade his pals, who couldn't fathom why he would write a novel that didn't take place, that he should do it. The idea of fiction was still in its infancy. Just two years separated the publication of Appu Nedungadi's Kundalatha and that of Indulekha.
The author remains by your side for the entirety of the Indulekha tale that is being told. He addresses his readers directly from time to time, speaking about the challenges he faces as a writer. In addition to this, he is eager to explain the meaning behind many of the sentences he says so that they are not construed in a different way.
