Sandhya Mary’s Maria, Just Maria challenges the construct of normalcy by centering a seemingly mad woman as its unabashed protagonist.  Originally published in Malayalam in 2018, the novel was translated into English in 2024 by Jayasree Kalathil. Even in translation, Maria, Just Maria reads like the swirling, coiling letters of Malayalam due to its non-linear narrative structure, magical realist elements, and multiple “mad” characters. Yet, what distinguishes Mary’s novel is not its literary peculiarities, but the mere existence of a narrative voiced by a woman deemed mad by society.  Maria, Just Maria begins in a psychiatric hospital where, according to the doctors, Maria was admitted for exhibiting abnormal tendencies such as “giving up speaking.” But as is always the case, what men in power claim is only half the truth. Hence, while the narrative begins and ends in a psychiatrist’s hospital, the period in between is filled with Maria’s attempt…

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