An Absence of Squirrels-Aparna Kapur (Illus. Siddhi Vartak)

Book: An Absence of Squirrels
Author: Aparna Kapur
Illustrator: Siddhi Vartak
Publisher: Duckbill

How would you feel if an animal were to disappear from your city completely?

Welcome to Thutta. We have a train, an ocean and 5,120 people. One of these people is Katli, although she pretends to be seven people ― making up new versions of herself is her way of dealing with being a thirteen-year-old on an island where nothing much happens. Until one morning, when she follows a cat off a train and sets off a sequence of events involving absent animals, mysterious meetings and sneaky schemes. As the secrets grow into something much bigger than Katli could have imagined, she knows one thing for sure: life on the island will never be boring again. Oh, and whatever you do, don't say SQUI―

On the surface, Aparna’s book seems like a kids book about a missing animal and the kids looking for it, however when you finish the book, you realise the undertones that she is bringing to light through the book. As a writer, I really liked that while the plot and storytelling is kept simple, the message in the book is intact from start till the end. As you go through the book, the genre of the book keeps changing and you are engaged as you figure out whether this is a general fiction title, a YA story or a full-blown whodunnit. The writing is quite fresh and engaging. Keeping in mind the target audience of the book (10+ Years), the story is gripping to keep the attention of the reader with questions, school bingo and the interactions between teenagers. I also loved the Groundhog Day effect that Aparna brings into the storytelling, and how the chapter titles are also arranged according to that. Each chapter in the book is a highlight to brilliant writing that Aparna has exhibited, and these chapters are a good example for the young readers to adapt and improvise when faced with a challenge. The climax in the book is a good example of collective consciousness, and from the perspective of a reader, it shows how young people can affect change when they come together. The symbolism of the squirrel is very interesting, and specially in the current times, the story feels right on point.

Coming to the characters, I really loved how the character of Katli is penned. She is a very relatable character in terms of a young adult, curious about the events near her home. I also liked how Aparna presents the psyche of a young girl, unsure of how to respond to people basis the mood she was in. The idea of different versions of Katli was a good aspect of writing to show how can a young adult deal with different emotions they start to feel. Abhay as a character is another interesting character that highlights the importance of friends and how they help us stay on track as well as how we can be ourselves near a true friend. The captain is an interesting character and I really liked that she is shown as an enigma, always heard, never seen. Her persona is carefully built and I really liked the way she is developed throughout the book.

Overall, this is a book that is recommended for its brilliant content and some best in class writing. The book scores a 5/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India, Puplio Books or from a bookstore near you.

The Scent of Roses-Adithi Rao (Illus. Krishna Bala Shenoi)

Book: The Scent of Roses
Author: Adithi Rao
Illustrator: Krishna Bala Shenoi
Publisher: Duckbill

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Do you think that the environment around affects kids?

When Abu disappears one night, Bram Bram Chok comes to live inside Sajad’s heart, making him hop in anger and stomp to its tunes. Does Sajad want him to stay? Can anything make him go away?

As a book focused on an audience of 7+ years, it is very well written. We see Kashmir from the eyes of a kid and how he interprets the people going missing. Adithi also reinterprets the internal conflicts in the mind of a child as a wolf and how it rears up. The importance of family support is also highlighted quite interestingly, and I liked how the relationship between Sajad and his grandfather is nicely penned. Another aspect of the book I loved was how Adithi keeps the book simple, keeping in mind the target audience, however the message and the essence of the book comes out wonderfully. It was also good to see how a kid sees the family dynamics and the relationships between the members of his family. The climax of the book comes a perfect circle and I really loved how the book ends.

Coming to the illustrations, Krishna has done a wonderful job imagining Sajad, Abu, Bram Bram Chok and the other characters in the book. The scenes are presented quite nicely and I completely enjoyed how he brings to life the viewpoints, especially the bridge with the barbed wire. I think that was one of the most powerful scenes in the book.

Overall, this is a book that I would highly recommend to parents whose kids are starting to read. The book is a 5/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or Puplio Books, or a bookstore near you!

The Scratch and Sniff Chronicles-Hemangini Dutt Majumder

Book: The Scratch and Sniff Chronicles
Author: Hemangini Dutt Majumder
Publisher: Olive Turtle (An Imprint of Niyogi Books)

If you had a heightened sense of smell, how would you use it?

OLLIE HAS A SUPER POWER! Well, kind of. As she remarks tipsily on a hilarious date, ‘I can really smell…You see, in a way, I’m almost like Batman.’ This peculiarity in Ollie’s life—her uncanny sense of smell—she discovers is derived from her oscillating hormones, an unusual symptom of a health condition she has. As it happens, this unique trait serves her well as a rare female wine sommelier and beverage consultant, as she can sniff out and create complex flavour profiles. Ollie’s life changes quite dramatically when she and her entire family decide to relocate to their ancestral estate, Neelbari, in Chandannagar. Strange and mysterious incidents start occurring as soon as Ollie, her aunt, cousin Laura, and their cat, Habey, move in. Is the malevolent spirit of her great-grandmother really haunting Neelbari? And why has their arrival caused so much alarm? What secrets are the walls and gardens of the hundred-year-old estate hiding? Why does no one seem to be telling the truth? Ollie and Laura try to solve these puzzles, only to find themselves in situations fraught with danger. As the finger of suspicion keeps moving, can Ollie sniff her way to solving this whodunnit? More importantly, can she save Fishy before it is too late? Read on to find out!

The book is an interesting mix of humour, romance and crime that explores family history, secrets and an old estate. Hemangini’s writing is fresh and keeps you interested in the story as it plays out. The book is heavily reliant on Ollie’s sense of smell and the way each of the characters smells become an important aspect of the storytelling. Every time we see a change in the scene or the entry of the characters, the olfactory notes are mentioned, keeping the reader engaged as you start looking at events (or rather smelling them) from Ollie’s perspective and that forms a very interesting method of telling the story. I liked the fact that the self-deprecating humour has been used unsparingly and it is an essential part of her writing. The humour comes out surprisingly and it is so well written that the chuckles are quite guaranteed. Moving from the olfactory and the humour part of the storytelling, the mystery element in the book is equally well written and you are presented with the ghost of the Chaterges which adds another flavour to the tale of what happened at Neelbari. The needle of suspicion keeps moving from one character to the next as you start learning of the past events in the lives of the residents of Neelbari. I loved how the author does not definitively take you in a single direction, and through the trail of smells, you are entangled in the web that is slowly spinning. The climax has been written quite nicely and explains most of the things that had happened in Neelbari. While I did feel that it was a bit sudden, the overall satisfaction of the completion is there.

The characters are the soul of this book. Each of these characters have been meticulously crafted and there is a wonderful individuality to each of them. From the names of the characters-Olympia, Ellora, Fishy, Habeas Corpus, to the story behind each of the names is what made the story life like. Ollie’s sense of smell and steadfastness is something that I really loved in the book. I also loved how she has this innate ability to come up with quips on the spot that just hit right on the head. Laura’s no-nonsense character was another aspect I really loved in the book. Habey as a cat did steal the show more than once, specially in the climax, where I was truly surprised by its appearance. Pramanik and Halder as the investigating officers were genuinely interesting, even though their presence was in pieces.

Overall, this is a book that is highly recommended for its exceptional writing, bone-tickling humour and an interesting set of mysteries. The book scores a 4.88/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India, Niyogi Books or from a bookstore near you!

Geisha in the Gota Patti-Chetna Keer

Book: Geisha in the Gota Patti (A Gulmohar Suspense Saga #3)
Author: Chetna Keer
Publisher: Readomania

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

What if a tea set could lead to a murder?

An exotic global tale of tea as a healer in these times of world strife and wars. When a high tea for former diplomats is hosted in honour of an enigmatic relative from the Orient visiting an old Dilli kothi, what secrets and scary prophesies scrape off, layer by layer, like its crumbling plaster? Death dangles over whose head at the ex-diplomats’ reunion in a posh Delhi Club? What are the ghastly shadows, guile and grey sunset lurking yonder the grand Gulmohar nestled in this ancestral kothi, presided over by a Grande Matriarch? Sareeholic sleuth-on-the-side, book blogger Lollita is back in this destination drama navigating Delhi’s old-world ethos to a Himalayan tea terrain cradling folk wisdoms and ancient secrets. A heartwarming tea tale about love and loss, hope and healing.

The third book in the Gulmohar Saga brings the story close to home where our in-house sleuth has to uncover a tale of treachery that might just implicate someone very close to her. Chetna explores the culture of tea as a background in the book and through the pages, you get to learn the various facets of tea preparation, drinking and its symbolism through the residents of Ekaanth as well as the members of the Book Club in the lush foothills of Kangra. Chetna’s writing is quite interesting with loads of similes and metaphors that add a lot of flavour to her storytelling. She also manages to blend in local cultures, importance of various traditions as well into the story, both local and international while telling this tale. Using various tea-sets and through Bade Beeji’s storytelling, the author sets the tone for the book and the core mystery of the book that Lollita must solve. I liked the fact that the murder-mystery part of the book was short and succinct, but the build up was always there in pieces in each chapter. The author also explores the themes of love and loss as each of the character narrates a part of their live, and how each of them chose hope and healing, when it was easier not to. The climax is well-written and while some readers might call it sudden, I think it was needed to close the story that was brewing through all the sub-plots that we read.

 Coming to the characters, Lollita impresses as always through her sheer deductive skills and the power of observation. Her interactions with the Jaapani Bahu were quite interesting to read, specially considering the climax. Badi Beeji’s storytelling as well as her memory of each of her tea sets was lovely to read, and how that becomes a core aspect of the storyline. The Gulmohar Tree and the Roshandan were the two elements that I really loved. How she uses there 2 mute objects to provide the big picture that everyone involved in the story misses.

Overall, this is a wonderful addition to the series and a definite recommendation from me, specially to lovers of tea and tea sets. The book scores a 4.69/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.

Learning to Make Tea for One-Andaleeb Wajid

Book: Learning to Make Tea for One: Reflections on Love, Loss, and Healing
Author: Andaleeb Wajid
Publisher: Speaking Tiger

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

How do you deal with grief?

In the summer of 2021, India was throttled by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitals were running out of oxygen and the daily news recorded the soaring death count. Families were torn apart as beloved ones were quarantined or confined in intensive care units and lost to the deadly virus—leaving survivors without even a chance to say goodbye. In that cruel summer, Andaleeb Wajid lost her mother-in-law, and then just five days later, her husband, even as she was hospitalised with COVID herself. Wajid’s grief struggled to find words as she returned to a home that was shorn of the love that had once inhabited it and was now empty, but for her two children. Wajid finally turned to her writing to make sense of it all. She found herself wanting to tell the story of her life and her loss. She chronicled her family life, of growing up as a cherished daughter of a father whom she lost too early. She wrote about her marriage, the happy companionship that marked it, and the many ways in which her husband and she looked at life so very differently. She described the incredible joys and the unbearable pain of motherhood too. Learning to Make Tea for One is Andaleeb Wajid’s journey through her grief. She tells her story with truth and courage, looking at death squarely in the face as she learns to make tea for one. It is a story that will deeply touch anyone who has faced loss and pain.

Andaleeb’s memoir tells us the story of how she lost two of her family members during the Covid wave of 2019, and how she dealt with the loss. While that is the central idea of the book, Andaleeb explores something even more visceral in the book. It is not just about loss and changes in her life, but she explores how she felt during that time, shuffling between hospitals, dealing with all that was happening around her. Andaleeb tells us the story of how she dealt with grief when she lost her father too early, or the pain of motherhood. While reading the memoir, you almost feel that she is telling you the story sitting next to you, and some of the moments are so visual that you feel the same emotions that she must have been feeling. She also chronicles the story of how she started writing and her journey of becoming an author through her experiences as well as of those around her. As her reader, you also come across some instances which inspired some of her stories which she has published.

I really liked how Andaleeb maintains her storytelling prowess while narrating some of the lowest moments of her life, and some of the high points as well. Outlining the importance of the support of family and friends, you realise that as a social animal, you need the people around you to be your pillars of support. Her narration of small things that remind her of her father, her mother-in-law, and husband was quite vivid, and the moment where she is preparing tea after coming home was something that will stay with me for quite some time, and this is also the place from where the title comes from. The book moves in time as she tells the story, and just like a memory, it flits between time and instances where one memory leads to another and just like that a chain of moments are revealed.

This is a memoir that should be read not just because it presents a perspective on how to deal with grief, but also chronicles the story of a person who moves ahead with life, despite the setbacks. The book scores a 4.88/5 for me.

Get a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.

Haadsaa-Vish Dhamija

Book: Haadsaa
Author: Vish Dhamija
Publisher: Bloomsbury India

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever played snakes and ladders?

Beautiful young Anushka Khan is a privileged South Delhi wife. Her perfect world turns upside down when she awakens in the hospital, beaten and bruised, her body overrun with prescription drugs and alcohol. Her husband, the nawab Akbar Khan, is missing, suspected of murdering their friend Rajiv Pant at their palatial home in the swanky Sainik Farms. As Anushka makes a slow recovery, trying to piece together her memories of the haadsaa that fatal night, she must contend with ACP Kamala Jha, a diligent young police officer. Jha is focused on uncovering the truth hidden in a web of misleading theories and dirty secrets. Was Anushka having an affair with Rajiv? Was Akbar involved in shady hawala dealings? Was there another man present that evening? What really happened that hot July night in Sainik Farms? Bestselling author Vish Dhamija's latest thriller, Haadsaa, is a maze of deception, leaving you questioning whom to trust.

Vish’s writing is wildly misdirectional and every page attempts to throw you off course. The book is a simple whodunnit and each chapter takes you that much closer to finding the killer. Easy right? Unfortunately, with Vish, this time the book is placed on a hypothetical snakes-and-ladder board, where the moment you are close to 100, you get bit and you start at the very beginning. The writing in the book is easy to read, but the complexity of the story is par excellence. The plot is very well planned, and along with ACP Kamala Jha, even you start racking your brains to find Akbar Khan and I must say I came very close to the truth, but alas the curse of the 98 bit me again. The storytelling is powerful and the plot twists are quite interesting to read. The visual aspect of Vish’s writing comes out very nicely and a good example of this is the clock in Anushka’s room. While inanimate and stationary, the mere mention of it becomes a part of the storytelling. Every time you get to hear the events of the fateful night, you try and figure out the reason why and then you come to the climax, and suddenly it is not just the characters, you realise that you’ve been misdirected as well, and it is not just the people in the book, but by our very own storyteller in his signature style using the very elements he has included to help you keep on track in the story. The climax is something that some people might not agree with, however I feel that given the core idea of the book, it was a perfect way to close the story.

Coming to the characters, ACP Kamala Jha is a tenacious investigator and I loved the way she has been integrated into the story. Even in the face of the strongest challenge, she strives ahead in the face of truth. With the stories that are being told to her, she takes her time and separates the chaff from the wheat. The other characters-Anushka, Aanya, Siddharth, Monica, Piyush and Dr. Aryan-each of them are a part of the story, whether knowingly or unknowingly and after a point, you are not sure whom to trust because of the secrets that are coming tumbling out. I loved how each character gets their time in the story and then gets a graceful stage exit until the spotlight remains on the key characters.

Haadsaa is a book that stupefies you, thrills you, confuses you, but at the same time puts up a question-do we really know the people around us. The book scores a 4.94/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.

Daughter of Two Rivers-Arun Krishnan

Book: Daughter of Two Rivers
Author: Arun Krishnan
Publisher: Penguin India

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Do you ever look back and think how the people in the older civilizations would have lived?

Undergoing a ravaging drought, the riverside settlement of Rohitaka is at odds, struggling to recover from their losses. When a request from Babylon to trade weapons arrives as a blessing in disguise, a trade delegation, headed by prince Arjuna, and the grizzled veteran, Shrutasena, sets off for the faraway kingdom. An encounter with Lilith, the fierce bodyguard to the Queen, and more importantly, a woman who is hell-bent on despising Arjuna, leaves him flustered. But there’s more to Lilith than meets the eye. The woman is a formidable soldier, but something about her reminds Arjuna of home, Bharatavarsha. But as fate would have it, Arjun and Lilith find themselves entrenched in a political ploy to overthrow Babylon’s King, Sin-Mubalit. Will they be able to stop the usurpers to the throne? And can they trust each other to have their backs as they do so, even as they’re uncovering new secrets on the go? Inspired by the twentieth century discovery of a Sumerian tablet off the coast of Mumbai, Daughter of Two Rivers is a homecoming story. And like all good homecoming stories, it’s a story of learning what home means―across countries, and across time.

Arun uses an interesting real-life discovery to weave a story that seems quite plausible. The writing is very visual and you are transported into Babylon as you start reading the story. What I liked was the fact that the plot is simple, and Arun has used the entire plot to show the importance of the discovery off the coast of Mumbai and only when you finish the book, that you go back and read the part of the discovery again to understand the core of the story. Another interesting aspect of the book is that Arun has not taken too many liberties while crafting fiction from fact and the plot does not seem outlandish. The idea of home is explored in a multifaceted manner and you keep revising the definition of home. Through the idea of family, culture, friends and the basic idea of survival, the author has presented this question many times as to what we call home, and what does it truly mean to lose a home. While the book is well-done, I did feel that the plot was a bit flat, considering the tone of the book. The first half of the book does set the tone and you expect some fireworks in the second half, you are left disappointed because things happen too fast, too easily. That part of the book I believe could have been improved a bit. The climax almost makes you pray for a happy ending, and as soon as you release your breathe, you realise that Arun has pulled one on you, and then the realization of something important, something that the author mentions in the beginning comes on to you. For me, that was the mark of a good storyteller.

Coming to the characters, Arun’s character development is quite imaginative, and I was impressed by the way he uses Arjuna and Lilith’s characters as a mirror of the pairing from the Mahabharata as a symbol. The way Lilith’s character develops in the book was fun to read. The two sides of her character, feisty and a fighter, and on the other hand, this soft-natured woman have been wonderfully balanced and written. Arjuna’s character was fun to read however I felt that a bit more of nuance in his character was required. He came across as a character who is a soldier, but then the other aspects of his character were very much hidden. Shrutasena, on the other hand, impressed me quite a bit, right from the first page to the last, especially his love and devotion.

Overall, this is a nicely written historical fiction that presents a nice interpretation of our ancestors might have lived. The book scores a 4.69/5 for me.

Grab a copy of the book on Amazon India or a bookstore near you.