Meet Sneha Talwar, the ambitious young reporter with a penchant for idealism. Her latest assignment? To profile the fascinating Natasha Babani, an environmental activist and multi-talented mommy-influencer. But just as Sneha gears up to uncover Natasha’s extraordinary tale, a shocking twist disrupts her plans—Natasha’s lifeless body is discovered, gently floating in the very lake she fought so hard to restore.
Breasts and Eggs | Meiko Kawakami | Book Review
Breasts and Eggs offers a compelling depiction of the modern female experience in Japan, delving into the personal odysseys of three women as they navigate societal pressures and confront their own inner struggles in pursuit of genuine contentment and self-determined destinies. The narrative revolves around Natsu, a thirty-year-old woman, her elder sister Makiko, and Makiko’s daughter, Midoriko.
Reckless Girls | Rachel Hawkins | Book Review
Two best friends Brittany and Amma are keen on sailing to a remote Pacific Island, a place where no one dares venture (because of its sordid history and also because it is in the middle of nowhere, almost cut off from civilization), and they are willing to pay a good buck for it. So, both Lux and her boyfriend Nico, who happens to own a boat, readily agree to this adventure. But when after days of tiresome sailing, they finally reach the place, they discover that their paradise is not what they had imagined it to be.
Maid In Dubai | Zana Bonafe | Book Review
Drawing from the discussions made with Filipino domestic helpers in Dubai, Maid in Dubai is another addition to the broad arena of expatriate literature in English from the Gulf. The tagline of the novel, ‘Dusting Sand. Changing a Life’ reiterates the idea of earning riches in the Gulf which is a dream destination for many from the South Asian and far East Asian countries.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous | Ocean Vuong | Book Review
In On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Little Dog writes a letter in English to his uneducated Vietnamese mother at a time when he is in his late twenties. He documents the history of his family that begins much before he was born, with the story of his grandmother Lan. Like many Vietnamese families of that era, their story too is rooted in war. It starts with the war and it is the war that dictates what eventually becomes of them.
The Push | Ashley Audrain | Book Review
The Push is a deep and dark psychological drama about a mother who hopes that she will be a very different mother than what she got. While she hoped for all the great things in motherhood but what she got was something else altogether.
Blythe Connor wants to be a devoted mother, something that her own mother never was. But just when she was in the most nascent and exhausting phase of motherhood, she realizes that there is something wrong with her daughter Violet.
It Ends with Us | Colleen Hoover | Book Review
Lily is a small-town girl with big dreams who decides to leave her small-town life in Maine and move to Boston. Before long, Lily stumbles upon the handsome and charming Ryle Kincaid, a neurosurgeon making the big bucks. Even though everything is going great with Ryle, Lily seems to hang on to thoughts of Atlas, the guy who was her first love; the guy who really understood her.
And now, when Atlas seems to have magically reappeared in her life, the carefully built relationship that she has with Ryle seems threatened.
The Ardent Swarm | Yamen Manai | Book Review
Darkly humorous, distinctly witty, and terribly sarcastic, The Ardent Swarm is a fictional novel translated from French by Lara Vergnaud. In this novel, Yamen Manai weaves a tale of awe and thrill against the backdrop of the socio-political upheavals and transition in a region that has been synonymous with instability and unpredictability in its public policies.
Qabar | KR Meera | Book Review
Originally written in Malayalam and translated to English by Nisha Susan, Qabar is a one-of-a-kind reading experience. Phenomenal and evocative, this novel thrives through subtlety in a state of multiple paradoxes. This is particularly true of the constant tussle in the novel between the real and the imaginary. Deeply rooted in contemporary Indian society, the novel is set in Kerala and abounds in the frequent references to iridescent myths of the only man who returned alive from Kashi and the levitating twins.
3…2…1…Jump | Niharika Nigam | Book Review
The storyline revolves around the character of Nanki and her husband Dhruv who reside with Nanki’s maternal grandfather, Nanu, in urban India.
Set in the days of the Covid-19 pandemic, 3…2…1… Jump is a tale of resilience that is bound to attract attention and inspire readers who will resonate with the awful times that we have been through together as the human race in the recent past.
The Naani Diaries | Riva Razdan | Book Review
I love drama, and what better way to serve drama than an entertaining, contemporary, and light-hearted story that revolves around three generations of Indian women? If this doesn’t get you curious enough, then there is also lots of ambition, a sad heartbreak, a heart-warming love story straight from the 1960s, an impromptu relocation to Bombay, and a dangerously sexy young man Zain Rajan. Now that I am sure that I have your attention, let me present to you Riva Razdan’s The Naani Diaries, a book that I thoroughly enjoyed and I am sure you would too.
When I am With You | Durjoy Datta | Book Review
Aishwarya, at twenty-eight years old, wants to be a single mother rather than fit into a traditional family structure. It’s not that she hasn’t tried but just so far it hasn’t seemed to work for her. Smart, highly intelligent, and equally ambitious, she has her eyes on two goals, both of which she wants to achieve at all costs. Enter Dhiren who takes up the 1st floor of Aishwarya’s building. A chance coincidence forces them to work closely with each other until a dreadful accident ruins everything that they have done so far.