I t is well said that literature is mirror of life. It reflects artistically, aesthetically and articulately the ups and downs of the society. The writers writing in a particular social environment or projecting a specific period from history try to record and analyse the happenings of that period from a perspective that is their own. This is equally true of Partition literature too, penned down immediately or decades after the occurrence of that agonizing event. Manju Kapur, born in Amritsar, is a teacher of English literature at Miranda House, Delhi University. Her magnum opus ‘Difficult Daughters’ was nominated for the Crossword Book Award, widely regarded as the Indian Booker Prize. The novel is fashioned against the backdrop of political mayhem and Partition. In the novel the readers are given a glimpse of situational affairs which play upon the mind of female characters and shape their responses. The sociological and psychological treatment of female characters and the concrete development of the plot make up the novel more interesting. The research paper seeks to explore the theme of Partition from the perspective of alienation, isolation and assimilation from social and psychological point of view. Manju Kapur has defined change as the move out from the patriarchal set up. Ira Pande has graphically describes the front page of the novel in the following words: “Manju Kapur’s book first holds your attention with its cover, which has a stunning portrait of a young woman circa the ‘50s with large limpid eyes and a gaze that looks beyond … Such is Virmati, the protagonist” (59). II Difficult Daughters, set against the bloody backdrop of Partition in the cities of Amritsar and Lahore, remains a powerful portrayal of the society. The novel spans three generations of women and exposes their sense of disillusionment. The three generations of women are Kasturi, Virmati and Ida who epitomise the three stages of Indian independence. Kasturi, the mother symbolises the pre-independence, and is shown as a victim of the offensive control of patriarchy. Through three female protagonists, Manju Kapur has revealed the life circle of a woman who is devoted from beginning of Theme of Partition in Manju Kapur’s Difficult Daughters ARABATI PRADEEP KUMAR Literary Insight (ISSN 0975-6248) Volume-7, January 2016, pp.185-190