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The Night Diary: Veera Hiranandani

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"Sometimes I think about why we get to be alive when so many others died for no reason walking the same walk, crossing the same border. All that suffering, all that death, for nothing. I will never understand, as long as I live, how a country could change overnight from only a line drawn."                                            - The Night Diary Title: The Night Diary Author : Veera Hiranandani Publisher: Penguin India Genre: Historical Fiction Book description and thoughts: Nisha is a 12 year old girl residing in Mirpur Khas with her twin brother Amil, grandmother and father. Being born to a Muslim mother and a Hindu father she has learned to accept people of all the religions as equals. But her family has always been an outcast sighting the interfaith marriage of her parents. The Night Diary is a saga of Nisha and her journey across the India- Pakistan border in the wake of newly independent India. The communal tension arising from the partition scars her li

The Fountains Of Silence: Ruta Sepetys

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"Take comfort that this silence is not yours alone, Teresa. In the field, across the mountains, under the streets, and beneath the trees lie thousands of souls, condemned to silence. But one day, far into the future when the pain is less sharp, the voices of the dead will find harmony with the living. They will make a melody. Listen for the music, Teresa. I sing for you, for my children, and for the better day I know will come."                              - The Fountains Of Silence Title: The Fountains Of Silence Author: Ruta Sepetys No. Of Pages: 495 Genre: Historical Fiction Publisher: Penguin Random House  Book Description: Madrid 1957 General Franco's Spain under dictatorship has muffled the screams of poverty and injustice within its boundaries. It has successfully robbed off the citizens of its happiness in the past and is standing gaurd against the dreams and hopes for a happy future.  Ruta Sepetys weaves a historical fiction with Spaniards of post wa

A Reader's Story of Lockdown Survival

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The dawn of 25th March brought along with it an eerie silence in the streets surrounding my house. On any regular day, morning in my street meant an early call of the fish seller promising a fresh catch of ilish mach , some jogger haggling with the vegetable vendor over the price of onions and a group of senior citizens crowded at a tea stall having their first tea of the day in a  matir bhar   and scanning the newspaper headlines . But not today. Today it echoed the sound of some deserted town straight out of a horror movie. Only hollow bark of dogs and a few caw- caws of crows filled the ears occassionally. As the morning heat began to fill my room I realised it was past my waking time. I have always been a night owl and the early morning bustles in the street had been a source of disturbance for my late sleep in. As my eyes adjusted to the light outside the window I remembered that there was a pandemic raging outside and all the citizens of the country were under complet

BOOK REVIEW: 1984

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" Under the spreading chestnut tree I sold you and you sold me: There lie they, and here lie we Under the spreading chestnut tree."                                  - 1984 by George Orwell Title: 1984 Author: George Orwell Genre:  Dystopia No. of Pages: 310 Thoughts: 1984 is a 20th century dystopian book that screams the lunacy of totalitarian regime and the bleak future of the citizens. Though written in 1949, author is able to set up a vision of future that is equivalent to a citizen's nightmare. The book is written in three parts wherein each progressing part sets you up for the unpredictable climax. 1st part mostly gets you acquainted with the protagonist, his surrounding and the happenings. 2nd part is where more of feelings are exchanged and a lot of history is learned. The first two parts shows the answer to the question of the protagonist "how". 3rd part goes on to explain "why" with a twist. Though the writting can be bit burdensome

BOOK REVIEW: Into the Water

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Title: INTO   THE WATER Author: Paula Hawkins Pages: 355 Genre:  Thriller Publisher: Penguin Random House UK Summary: Death of Nel Abott brings her sister Jules back to their childhood home and the drowning pool. Nel is survived by her daughter Lena, a teenager, left in care of Jules. Who is actually responsible for the death of Nel Abott- her daughter? Or her sister? Or somebody else? Not just Lena's mother but story intersects with another mystery of Lena's best friend's death in the same pool. A fast paced psychological thriller that unfolds the mystery of all the deaths in the drowning pool. The endless questions and the endless history of drownings of women all answered and revealed to your eyes. My thoughts: ⭒Nel Abott has jumped to death in the drowning pool (or has she!?). Visiting childhood home again brings back old bitter memories to Jules or was it her mind deceiving her about her sister? The confusion is for real.  The confusion that the author aime

BOOK REVIEW: The Loving Spirit

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" I’ll not bide in Heaven, nor rest here in my grave. My spirit will linger with the ones I love - an’ when they’re sorrowful and feared in themselves, I’ll come to them; and God Himself won’t keep me."         - The Loving Spirit by Dapne du Maurier Title: THE LOVING SPIRIT Author: Daphne du Maurier Pages: 404 Genre: Family saga Publisher: Virago Press The loving spirit is family saga that unfolds through generations. Each generation has its own characters built up over their strong will to exercise freedom and the love for the sea.  Janet Coombe and Thomas Coombe are the founders of the family. Janet Coombe a girl with a soul for freedom and adventures and love for the sea marries her cousin Thomas Coombe suppressing her soul's freewill but never extinguishing them. From her its passed on to her child Joseph.  Its through her son Joseph her old love for sea is set on fire. Her obsession with one of her sons is indeed the building block of the destruction t