Malathi Rao wasn't initially keen on getting her 'Disorderly Women' published. " I had kept this book to read it myself and it was only recently, after constant changes in the way it read, that I cut it into a contemporary frame," says Rao, quoted in Deccan Herald write-up by Pooja Kumar. 'Disorderly Women', set in the pre-Independence era and dedicated to the likes of Rukmani and Kamala (characters in the book), moves in time from Old Mysore to Bombay, and then to Bangalore. Though they married in their childhood, Rukmani (married at 10) and Kamala (at the age of 12) are portrayed as daring enough to challenge the prevalent social norms. Ms. Rao, who has many novel and short stories to her credit has been teaching English at Miranda House, Delhi University, and has drawn inspiration from the 'the woman inside me' and her observations of life.

In her intro to 'Disorderly Women' Rao writes: "That's what stories are for, to be endlessly repeated, so there is no forgetting who you are and where you come from". At a recent book release function writer U R Ananthamurthy observed he would have appreciated it more had it been written in Kannada.