An apartment viewing shouldn’t really turn into a hostage situation, but for the people who showed up for the viewing on that day, didn’t really expect a failed bank robber to burst in, sob loudly and exclaim, “I’m having quite a complicated day here!” and hold them hostage. And, suddenly, everyone is anxious. There is… Continue reading #ELLEReview : Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
Tradition and espionage come together in Ravi Shankar Etteth’s thriller set amid the politics of the Mauryan Empire. “To yield to fear is fatal,” says the spymaster who not just has King Ashoka’s back, but also saves his kingdom with spectacular espionage skills in Ravi Shankar Etteth’s latest book, The Brahmin (Westland, 2018; on stands now). On horseback or lurking in dark alleys, the… Continue reading Book of the month: The Brahmin is a murder mystery set deep within the Mauryan Empire
Imogen Hermes Gowar is polite, measured, scholarly and has total Impostor Syndrome about her debut novel, The Mermaid And Mrs. Hancock (on stands now), which was a literary hotcake long before it came out. Following a 10-way bidding war of publishers in June 2016, Harvill Secker (part of Penguin Random House) acquired the plump historical fiction, scoring Gowar a sensational £2,15,000 advance,… Continue reading Novel ‘The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock’ had publishers bid for it
“I read this somewhere,” says Shobha Rao. “A doctor is examining a woman, and he asks, ‘On a scale of one to 10, what is your pain level?’ She says six. When she leaves, he tells the nurse, ‘Put down nine. Women always underestimate their pain.’ Then a man walks in with the same condition, and… Continue reading Shobha Rao’s debut novel Girls Burn Brighter is the emotional rollercoaster you didn’t know you needed
Pick a dysfunctional family, any dysfunctional family. People trapped in it will often find themselves at one of three stages: rage that they should have been born in this messed-up family instead of say, a normal one; acceptance of their own role in the mess; and finally, hope that their family will one day find… Continue reading Jonathan Franzen’s Purity: a review
