Aarachar is a malayalam novel written by K.R. Meera and has won many prestigious awards. Meaning of the word aarachar is executioner. The story has been translated to English under the title " Hanging woman: Everyone loves a good hanging ".
It describes the story of generations of a aarachar family with the surname 'graddha mallick'. The story is set in Bengal, a state in India. One criminal named Jatindhranath Banerjee is sentenced to life for raping and killing a child. He has almost completed his 20 years jail sentence and is now waiting for his execution. While the time is approaching, a lot of protests are happening against execution and also in support of the execution. TV channels are celebrating this precious chance to increase their user rate. The actual story starts from here. The present aarachar named Phanibhushan Gradhha Mallick puts forth some demands to government in order to execute the criminal. One of his demands was to allow his daughter, Chetana Graddha Mallick, to take over his job as aarachar after his tenure. A hanging woman, for the first time in history. TV channels have taken this opportunity to conduct many debates, opened a new session for a daily discussion with Chetna about execution, invited criminal's family members and other celebrities, etc.
The author tells the story from the perspective of Chetana Graddha mallick. As her her continues in the turmoil due to execution, she recollects from the stories of her family's previous generations, which she had mostly heard from her grandma. Author beautifully narrated the stories in the appropriate places. Graddha Mallick family considered their job with atmost respect. This job has been a part of history of the family for generations.
We can see Chetana as a mature and strong girl with great knowledge about history. She connects her life with events from past and takes energy from that to fight against poverty, dishonesty of her fiance, etc.
It is a wonderful story and it beautifully depicts the strength of woman. Thank you for reading this. :)