Girls for Sale (PBC)

First staged in 1892, Girls for Sale (Kanyasulkam) is considered one of the greatest modern works of Telugu literature. The first major play written in an Indian language that critiqued British colonial India's effects on Indian society, it is filled with humour, biting social commentary, parody and masquerade. The plot revolves around an English-speaking dandy, a clever courtesan, a young widow, and an old man who wants to buy a very young girl as his wife. Eminent Telugu scholar and literary critic Velcheru Narayana Rao's English translation, with notes and a critical essay, makes Apparao's work available to a new audience.