A charming little
romance which is set in the recent past.
Pakistan in the seventies, to be precise. Chandni has been somewhat over-protected by
her maternal grandmother in the crumbling haveli (palace) which is their family’s
ancestral home. They are, as you might
have guessed, erstwhile Indo-Pak royalty.
Young, beautiful and extremely well read and educated due to rigorous
home tutoring, Chandni longs for the love and affection of the father she has
never known. He seems, her father, to
have been something of a heartbreaker, a life destroyer even. Even before Chandni’s late mother died when
she was a baby, pining for the man she had loved and been abandoned by, the same
man had already loved and left the mother of Chandni’s elder brother Zafar to a
similar fate. Zafar’s mother had had the
wherewithal to deposit her child in the home of her successor before succumbing
to her fate.
Chandni’s overpowering
grandmother has planned out her life and even chosen her husband, but Chandni,
with the candid innocence (or is it ignorance?) that is the characteristic of
the young and naive, fails to see that her grandmother works only out of love and concern for her
granddaughter. The old lady doesn’t do
less for Zafar either, although he’s not her grandson. So when Chandni’s father appears out of the
blue, protesting his helplessness in the past and his true love for his daughter,
Chandni is thoroughly charmed. It doesn’t
seem to occur strange to her that her father shows absolutely no concern for
her brother. As the reader and other
members of Chandni’s circle look on helplessly, Chandni seems to be drawn to
her father’s love, affection and approval as a moth is drawn to a flame. She even mindlessly accepts the rather
shallow fiancé her father has produced for her, as a magician produces a rabbit
out of a hat.
I enjoyed this unusual
story, which kept me guessing right up to the end. A sweet romance with sparkling dialogue and a
gallant hero. Just my favourite type of
read. I look forward to more from this
worthy author.
Published By Indireads
Thank you, Maria for this lovely review! My latest novella Mehrunissa, set in colonial Lahore is being serialized in The Sunday Observer Sri Lanka, available on-line as well. It was introduced last week in the paper: http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2014/02/16/mon21.asp
ReplyDeleteCheers!