Category: Books

Stories of powerful female leads, explored in a variety of contexts and evocative of a whole spectrum of emotions, make for good reads, just as the country is getting more and more active post the lockdown…writes Siddhi Jain.

Apart from the classics, here is a list you can choose from.

‘Mother at Nineteen’ by Gulista Chaudhary

Gulista Chaudhary’s ‘Mother at Nineteen’ is a tale of love, sacrifice, friendship, relationship and foremost- motherhood. The plot revolves around the decisions that we make in life can make or break relationships. Aashna made a decision of being a 19-year-old, unmarried mother. Little did she know that she’ll break all other relationships in the process. The author is a dynamic speaker and personality development coach. She drew inspiration for writing this book from her personal life and also facing ideologies of the male-dominant world.

‘Endurer’ by Kapil Raj

Kapil Raj’s ‘Endurer’ is a heart-rending story of a girl, whose beliefs and horror has been battered, stands up to make choices, rediscovering the meaning of life. The story revolves around Palak who is the epitome of beauty and charisma and lives a privileged life. She attends a reputed institution of higher learning, has a group of close friends, and is the object of admiration and desire. Nothing was right or wrong in her world. Life was a fun fed roller coaster. Newfound love, drugs, cat-fights, patch-ups, crushes, night hangouts, and unplanned trips, she was experiencing whatever passed her way. Her exploration goes too far when she attends a rave party. She wakes up to the horror of finding herself raped.

‘The Anatomy of Choice’ by Harshali Singh

Harshali Singh’s ‘The Anatomy of Choice’ talks about whether choice is really a possibility for women. The story revolves around Bhavya Sharma, the second offspring of the Sharma family that inhabits a large historical haveli near Chandni Chowk in Delhi, with its mysterious mausoleum. This is the second novel in the ‘Haveli series’. ‘If you can’t handle me at your worst, then you don’t deserve me at my best’, this quote attributed to Marilyn Monroe applies to this novel’s pivotal character Bhavya equally if not more. The strength of this dual narrative lies in creating a fascinating plot where the internal and external conflicts of her two protagonists, Bhavya and Noorie, are juxtaposed. The story also complex subjects such as polyamory and amorality, and normalizes them. The themes of love, separation, loss of honour, rebellion, sacrifice, sorrow, and catharsis are present in the story.

‘5 Minutes’ by Vrinda Singh

Vrinda Singh’s ‘5 minutes’ is a thriller. Just like riding on a roller coaster, reading this book alternates between making you feel excited and exhilarated, happy and sad, disappointed and desperate, in just 5 minutes. What makes this book worth reading is the author’s collection of various real-life incidents jotted down into subtle 16 chapters which are fast paced, grounded in reality, adrenaline soaked, grab you by the feels, keep-you-guessing, intriguing, completely unexpected, heart-breaking yet hopeful and a crazy read on the wild side. The author started the story as a thriller and also ended like one but what happens in the middle is exactly what carries the readers through ways of engaging with whirlwind of emotions, confusion, drama, pain and love.

‘Mirage’ By Nilakshi Garg

Nilakshi’s ‘Mirage’ is the new- age story of the female tattoo artist, Bethany Carlson, operating her tattoo parlour in Chicago, Illinois. She is the protagonist of this story. She has seen quite a lot of nasty ups and downs in her life. But we will get to know about it much later. Because of her earlier life, she has not found anyone to trust to date. This is all before she is forced to attend her college’s Alumni party alone. There she meets, the oh-so-handsome, Gerald Fletcher. He is a very straight forward man and from there the story unfolds.

Also Read-Inspirational Book For Women With Broken Dreams

In a social environment where women giving up professional dreams to put family first is all too common, a new book brings out the story of a couple sharing achievements, and going beyond the notion of “gifting teddy bears and roses to your partner”….writes Siddhi Jain.

Emerging author Saranya Umakanthan’s book “One Day, Life Will Change” launched this March. Published by FingerPrint Publishers, it also has an audiobook version on Audible. Saranya, a software engineer by profession, describes how she found the inspiration for this book.

“I met a lot of women who gave up on their dreams after their marriage with their personal commitments. Some gave up happily which is fine with me. But there were others who lost themselves unable to carry the load of being a perfect woman, losing their hopes and even forgetting what their dreams were in the first place. I saw them floundering in the turbulent sea of hardships drowning slowly, giving in to the harsh struggles of life. Most of the women I know, go through this phase. I saw the lost dreams in their eyes instead of the sparkling twinkle that I had seen earlier. That gave me a thought to begin my book,” she told IANSlife.

“One Day, Life Will Change” is an inspirational romantic novel where the protagonist, Samaira is one such woman with broken dreams. Her vivacious personality disappeared with the adversities of life but her heart longed for happiness, which she had taken it for granted earlier.

Highlighting the role of strong companionship and growing together, the novel shows how she and her partner pursued their dreams against all odds, inspiring one another and travelling the gruelling path of life.

“Life-altering, difficult situations in your life bring you closer to your partner. The bond of love strengthens when you fight it out together with additional strength and a secure belief that you have someone for you. There can never be a sweeter moment between a couple than celebrating their success together.”

In a time when hope runs dry, how will her book inspire both men and women to chase their dreams and hand-hold their partners through tough times?

“When you tumble into the quicksand of negativity, you lose your hope and in no time this pit will swallow your soul draining away your happiness. You need strong will-power to pull yourself out of this depression and misery. Along with your determination, it will be great to have a strong arm of support from your partner. To me, that is the purest form of love you can give or get. Not merely sending thousands of messages or gifting teddy bears and roses.

“In my story, Vivian stands for Samaira, and Samaira vouches her support to Vivian,” the author concludes, adding that love is a two-way street.

Inspiration amid the ongoing global pandemic can be hard to come by. Taking on these bleak times as a challenge and opportunity for self-discovery, emerging or first-time authors are refining how they think, write and imagine…writes Siddhi Jain.
Young author Sanya Khurana, a Tedx speaker and author of “One Action: Towards Women’s Dreams and Ambitions” finds philosophy in chaos. She told: “History has shown that pandemics have always inspired artists to create art, musicians to write songs, and authors to write more books. Even today, as the world is going through difficult times, authors are using this opportunity to either express and vent out their feelings or escape into their world of imagination through writing. Some writers are also using the gift of time that this pandemic has given all of us to complete their books or start a new one. We all have gone through our own struggles during the pandemic and each one of us has a story to tell”.

‘Jean Angel’ author Atul Mohite explains how the lockdown allowed him the time and mind space to finally put pen to paper: “The pandemic allowed us all to have a lot of leisure time which helped in exploring the creativity which we had and I was no exception to that. The idea for ‘Jean Angel’ was on my mind for quite a long time yet never imagine that I will come up with a book about it someday. Lockdown gave me that opportunity and I am so glad I could write the book in such difficult times. I’ve been fortunate to have a job of my liking and busy routine associated with it. Being in a bank, I worked despite the pandemic.”

“Talking about reimagining their lives and getting inspired, Roopesh Bhole, author of ‘In Love You Fall, In Love You Rise’ says that it is not them who keep the writing alive, it is the writing that keeps them alive. Writing brings in the feeling of being liberated. It is a place where there were no rules, where the characters could be developed as per our own will, without bothering about the repercussions that otherwise could be so depressing in real life”. He also adds how creativity can bring sanity in life during pandemic, adding how he is already penning his next book.

For some authors the pandemic in itself is an inspiration. Author Sabarna Roy, author of ‘Etchings of the First Quarter of 2020’, feels that the pandemic has brought forward a plethora of subjects to the notice of Indian authors in a more acute manner: “Job losses, pay-cuts, shrinkage of economy and its social consequences, people restricted to homes in unrelenting fear, a sudden and critical switchover to the digital world in every form of human interaction and the very ingress of the disease to nooks and corners of the country”. To his mind, the chaos provides authors with a newer context to think in and write about.

Authors like Karan Puri discovered a new side to them. Author of ‘#Me Too’, Puri feels that the lockdown helped him discover the writer within. “It had been a long hiatus but I kept the passion of writing going through my journey as a blogger, now finally, I got ample time to step up and complete my second book. #Metoo Movement and the Nirbhaya case shook something inside me and I wanted to share short stories of these sexual abuse survivors in a positive light. To give hope to the women who still feel unsafe traveling at night or even at home”.

Ravi Valluri, Author of ‘Heartbreaks at Coffee Shops – An Array of Tales’, who juggles his writing with a job in North Central Railway, says he had a ringside view of transportation of migrant labour. “I was to witness stories of human suffering and valour. Some of these touching and heart rending incidents, I penned down for an anthology of articles to be published by an Australian author and IIM Bangalore. Some others found their way into a collection of short stories recently published in form of a book – ‘Heartbreak at Coffee Shop’.”

Rajendra Sarilla, an educator who wrote ‘Scarlet – Lost in the Five Lands’ concurs that the pandemic has been food for thought – and imagination. “The pandemic has shown us many things that we never imagined would happen. We are actually living in a science fiction story, all of us. Just soaking in information flowing in from all parts of the world and processing it is helping me evolve as a writer. It’s rich food for thought. The pandemic has taught us about things that truly matter and things that don’t. It’s teaching us about human tenacity, kindness, patience. It’s all education. What else does a writer need?”

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