The title of writer and historian Tarana Husain Khan’s new novel, The Courtesan, Her Lover and I, echoes the name of the 1960s Hindi movie Sahib, Bibi aur Ghulam. On the surface of the novel is the chequered love story of Munni Bai and Dagh. Whether Umrao Jan Ada or Gauhar Jan or Munni Bai Hijab — what keeps them alive? Does Dagh really love Munni Bai? The novel also consolidates a demographic shift: Rupa Bajwa from Amritsar, Devika Rege from Pune, and now Tarana Husain Khan from Rampur.