The Good Girls

An Ordinary Killing

By: Sonia Faleiro

Narrated by: Sonia Faleiro

By the award-winning writer of Beautiful Thing, a masterly inquest into how the mysterious deaths of two teenage girls shone a light into the darkest corners of a nation.

The girls' names were Padma and Lalli, but they were so inseparable that people in the village called them Padma Lalli. Sixteen-year-old Padma sparked and burned. Fourteen-year-old Lalli was an incorrigible romantic.

They grew up in Katra Sadatganj, an eye-blink of a village in western Uttar Pradesh crammed into less than one square mile of land. It was out in the fields, in the middle of mango season, that the rumors started.

Then one night in the summer of 2014 the girls went missing; and hours later they were found hanging in the orchard. Who they were, and what had happened to them, was already less important than what their disappearance meant to the people left behind.

In the ensuing months, the investigation into their deaths would implode everything that their small community held to be true, and instigate a national conversation about sex and violence. Slipping deftly behind political maneuvering, caste systems and codes of honor in a village in northern India, The Good Girls returns to the scene of Padma and Lalli's short lives and shameful deaths, and dares to ask: what is the human cost of shame?

Hard Times for Women in India

I didn’t realize the author was reading list; her lovely, lilting accent added to the sorrowful story. Women’s lives are not worth much in the world; less so in India. These young girls deserved to have their story told - as much of it can be known through the lies and ineptitude that pervaded the case. The author has done a great job of explaining their world.

Sad but well-written and narrated

The true life story is of course quite sad. It is well written and well performed (audible).

A story that must be told

Such a sad story about two young girls whose lives were cut short in modern India. Their story needed to be told. It’s unbelievable that the caste system is still in place and that females are still being treated as possessions. The story is beautifully written and honors the girls.

An astonishing and heartbreaking story

The necessity for this author to spend 4 years researching this story, collecting something like 800 interviews, becomes apparent as we begin to understand the chaos surrounding not only this case but the lives of the people involved.

It is empathetic, clear eyed, and heartbreaking. A testament to the author’s diligence and compassion.

Absolutely heartbreaking

I rarely write out reviews on this site but this book left me wanting to shout it’s praises from the rooftops. Faleiro introduces readers to the India few in the West pay attention much less care about with kindness and nuance. She never lets the girls become faceless victims of a repressive culture. Instead, she strives to flesh out Padma and Lalli so we can mourn them as individuals, not just some poor girls in a misunderstood foreign land. I learned so much and I’ll be seeking out Faleiro’s other writings.
The narration was some of the best I’ve ever heard.