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Sometimes, out of nowhere, you stumble across some books and authors and your life is forever changed. ‘The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels’ by the fascinating author India Holton (who loves writing about uppity women and drinking copious amounts of tea) is perhaps my best book of 2022. It’s charming. It’s funny. It will make me smile every time I will think of it (which I’m sure will be quite often). The story grabs you by the lapels and doesn’t let go until the last page. How I wished the book were longer. Set in an alternate version of Victorian-era London, the Wisteria Society is made up of a group of women pirates who hunt (read steal) treasures in flying (stolen) battle houses. Cecilia Bassingthwaite is an ambitious member of the society. She is, however, desperate for a promotion. Only it keeps eluding her for one reason or another. Then her aunt, along with other society members, is kidnapped and Cecilia obviously wants to save them—she loves her aunt but she also feels saving the society will earn her that promotion. Cecilia teams up with Ned Lightbourne, the man who would have been her assassin had he not fallen in love with her. Ned has been contracted by Cecilia’s nemesis to kill her. Her father, Captain Morvath, hired him to protect her. Then, he also claims to be loyal to the crown and so he’s only following orders to keep a close eye on the lady pirates, especially Cecilia. There’s a lot of confusion about his real identity but there’s no denying that he’s charming. He could very well be the modern-day version of Jane Austen’s Mr Darcy. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels is a laugh-riot. The side characters are quirky and add much craziness and confusion to the story. Their banter is witty and their personalities are unique. There is a lot of violence but it’s cartoon-style violence. You will be reminded of the Tom and Jerry or Popeye reruns you used to watch as a child. The twists and turns keep you guessing what will happen next, while steamy romance occasionally makes you blush. If you have enjoyed the classics, especially Bronte and Austen, there are plenty of references that will tug at your heartstrings. Holton’s writing perfectly complements the Victorian setting so much so that you feel like she’s a writer from that era. It’s a good book that will get your mind off things that have been troubling you while simultaneously reminding you of some of your favorite books. Four stars Fiction The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels India Holton Published: 2021 Publisher: Penguin Random House UK Pages: 324, Paperback

First, a shoutout to all translators around the world. Thanks to them, those who primarily read in English get to enjoy all sorts of stories from across cultures and countries. Philip Gabriel is an American translator mostly known for his translations of Haruki Murakami’s books (‘Kafka on the Shore’, ‘Sputnik Sweetheart’, ‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’, among others) and of works by Nobel Prize-winner Kenzaburō Ōe (‘Somersault’). He also translated one of my absolute favorite books, ‘The Traveling Cat Chronicles’ by Hiro Arikawa—a story about a man and his adopted cat traveling across Japan, as narrated by the cat. I was browsing through a local bookstore when I came across ‘Lonely Castle in the Mirror’ by Mizuki Tsujimura. Apparently, she’s a well-known author of bestselling mystery novels in Japan. But I was reading something else at that moment and had a few more books on my TBR pile at home. I had no intention of buying more books (as readers often tell themselves when they mindlessly enter a bookstore). I was just killing time while my takeaway was getting ready at the restaurant next to it. But I was fascinated by the blurb. And then I found out that Gabriel had translated it. The protagonist Kokoro hasn’t been to school in a while. Her mother is trying to convince her to join a new one but Kokoro just can’t bring herself to step out of the house. Then one day, the mirror in her room starts glowing. Through the mirror, she is transported into a castle where she meets six other children who, for reasons of their own, aren’t going to school either. There they meet the Wolf Queen—a strange girl in a wolf mask—who sets them on a mission: to find the wishing room and the key that unlocks it. The one who does so will be granted a wish, she tells them. It’s an interesting story. It also deals with important issues like bullying and mental health. The writing isn’t bad. The characters are well-fleshed out. But something about the execution of the plot doesn’t feel right. It starts off really slow, with the children getting to know one another and traveling back and forth between their homes and the castle. There’s a laid back approach to storytelling up until more than halfway through the book. And then, suddenly, the writer decides to wrap up the story and rushes through it. There isn’t a natural progression to events. That way, the ending feels forced. Two and a half stars Lonely Castle in the Mirror Mizuki Tsujimura Translated from the Japanese by Philip Gabriel Published: 2021 Publisher: Penguin Random House UK Pages: 354, Paperback

This review does not have a rating because how do you rate a true story that has so much mental and physical anguish, injustices, cruelties, and pain? By choosing to tell the story of her escape from North Korea, Yeonmi Park has done a brave thing. It has endangered her life, and the lives of her family back home, she says in the book. But writing the book wasn’t just for catharsis. It’s also to tell the world about North Korea and the brutal ways in which the one-party totalitarian dictatorship keeps its people under control. Park was born in the North Korean city of Hyesan, close to the Chinese border. Her family depended on black market trading to survive the North Korean famine in the 1990s. As a child, her mother told her she shouldn’t speak out loud as mice and rats could hear her thoughts, and thus the Great Leader would come to know things and punish her. At school, all she knew of the outside world was that Americans were evil. Unable to bear the horrors of the Kim dictatorship, she and her mother fled to China when Park was just 13 years old. Written when she was 18 years old, ‘In Order to Live’ narrates the horrors Park and her family faced while living in North Korea. The people there, she says, are so brainwashed by political propaganda that they don’t know any better—they think the atrocities they have to deal with are part and parcel of daily life. Park also writes about the years when she was trafficked around northern China and had to deal with gangsters running prostitution rackets. They had to take an indirect route, through the freezing Gobi Desert in Mongolia, to get to South Korea. Park’s story is heartbreaking. There were many instances when I welled up and had to put the book away. It’s unimaginable that someone has had to go through so much. I found myself wishing some really bad things for the North Korean dictators. When Park went on TV to talk about life in North Korea, the Kim government tried to discredit her—calling her a liar and making public recordings of those who knew her saying bad things about her. Park knew writing the book would be risky—she was worried about her relatives back home in Hyesan—but she felt in her heart that what was happening back in North Korea was unacceptable and the world needed to know to perhaps be able to stop it someday. The writing is a tad bit pretentious at times, with lines like ‘I inhaled books like other people breathe air’ and such. But don’t let that stop you from reading ‘In Order to Live’ as it’s an inspiring story of the power of hope and resilience in the darkest of times. Non-fiction In Order to Live Yeonmi Park Published: 2015 Publisher: Penguin Random House UK Pages: 272, Paperback

Lounging on the couch with a hot cup of tea (or coffee, if you are so inclined) and a good, comforting read is a great stress buster. In winter, because there’s a nip in the air, this can feel even more relaxing and it can really help the endorphins to kick in as well. There are some books that I reread whenever I want that feel-good winter vibe. So, grab a soft blanket, make yourself a cup of your favorite hot beverage, and curl up with one of these five amazing and uplifting books this weekend. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern About a circus that appears and disappears suddenly in different parts of the world—New York, Boston, London, and so on—and operates only during the nighttime, The Night Circus is an intensely visual and imaginative story. Two gifted illusionists Marco and Celia are pitted against each other in an intricate, lifelong game they don’t really understand but for which they were being trained since grade school.  Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi At a café in Tokyo, visitors are served great coffee along with the chance to travel back in time, as long as they return before the coffee gets cold. There’s a woman who goes back in her past to confront the lover who left her, and a wife who wants to get a letter her husband wrote to her before his memory started to fade, among others. Though the writing is a tad bit repetitive, this book is a gentle reminder about the need to value what we have, thus far, taken for granted in life.  The House in the Cerulean Sea by T. J. Klune This is just great fun. It will make you happy. You will wish you lived in this world where magical creatures (with ministries governing them) are real. The characters are fascinating and the writing is really good too. The narrator Linus is rigid in his ways but at the same time acutely aware of his flaws. Getting to know him brings you a little bit closer to understanding people and how they think in general.  Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata Convenience Store Woman is a short book about a 36-year-old who works at a convenience store and has no ambitions whatsoever to ‘move up in life’ as society expects her to. This unusual psyche of the protagonist forces us to take a closer look at our work culture and the pressures to conform. I’ll be honest, reading it could kindle an existential crisis but it can also lessen your fears about life and where you’re headed, depending on your mindset actually. Roar by Cecelia Ahern A collection of short stories about fearless women, Roar is a delight. Every story will warm your heart and make you smile. The 30 stories in this anthology deal with discrimination, abandonment, and loneliness among other things. These are cautionary tales as well as stories that fill you with hope. Some are funny and sarcastic, while others make your heart ache (in a good way). It will make you think about all the different things a woman can be and how powerful and empowering that is.

The London Underground, popularly known as the Tube, is an utterly chaotic space, and not only during rush hour. You have to keep moving to reach your platform because everyone is in a hurry. Stopping to check the map or switching directions because you forgot which way you were supposed to go will earn you glares, headshakes, and murmurs. There’s a sense of urgency as people from students to office-goers use the tube as their primary mode of transport. The daily ridership is approximately 1.8 million. In Clare Pooley’s ‘The People on Platform 5’ we meet a wide range of characters who commute on a train from the Hampton Court area into London. There’s an old lady—Iona—who works for a magazine. She’s a lesbian who is extremely fond of her partner, Bea, and her pooch, Lulu, who travels everywhere with her. But lately, she has been worried that she’s about to lose her job. Then there’s Sanjay, a nurse who works in the oncology department. He is smitten by Emmie, another commuter on the train, but he is too shy to approach her. Piers is the hotshot banker with the ‘perfect’ life. He was once called ‘Midas’ at work because he was great at what he did. Now, he’s not sure this is the life he wants for himself. Martha, a teenager, has had a scandal and is being bullied at school. There are a few other interesting characters as well. Their lives collide when one of them almost chokes on his meal and needs medical help on the train. That incident somehow gets them talking to one another. As they get to know one another, they discover how their biases clouded their opinions and in the process are able to face their own demons as well (with, of course, a little help from their new friends). Though Iona is the protagonist who brings them all together, every character has been given his/her own sub-plot. And because there are so many of them, there’s a lot happening in the book. My problem with the book, however, is that it felt forced. The characters and their stories aren’t well developed and I couldn’t relate to any of them. This is despite the fact that the issues they deal with are real and important, from bullying and ageism in the workforce to mid-life crises and grief. What could have been a poignant story is all over the place because Pooley has taken on too much without being able to do justice to any of it. Three stars Fiction The People on Platform 5 Clare Pooley Published: 2022 Publisher: Bantam Press Pages: 400, Paperback

I hadn’t read anything by Claire Douglas which is why I picked up her latest bestseller, ‘The Girls Who Disappeared’ when I saw it at the Crosswords Bookstore at a mall in India recently. I’m a sucker for new authors I haven’t read. I always think I’m in for a delight. I’m usually disappointed though. But I never really learn. I have mixed feelings about this thriller novel. I won’t call it good but I won’t call it bad either. You can read it if you want a suspense story that distracts you for a little while. Twenty years ago, three young friends vanished from the scene of an accident. The driver, Olivia, was badly injured and found on the scene. Now, journalist Jenna Halliday arrives in town to cover the anniversary of the surprising and horrifying event. She quickly discovers there’s more to the accident than what meets the eye. There are some people who know more than they let on and they will do anything to hide their secrets. Narrated in two timelines, The Girls Who Disappeared builds on a sense of unease but the element of mystery isn’t very gripping. With few possibilities, you can pretty much guess what might have happened so there’s not much surprise there. But what Douglas has gotten right is the atmosphere of the place. It’s creepy and something gets under your skin. You just can’t shake off the feeling. If I’d take away a star for the cliché narrative, I’d give one back for the spooky setting. Jenna is an interesting character, with her own biases and set ways. She’s stupid. She’s courageous. She acts without thinking. She thinks too much. She is you. She is me. I enjoyed getting to know her. As the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, you too will find yourself rooting for Jenna. She felt very real and I was as invested in her personal life as I was in finding out what actually happened to Olivia’s friends. There’s definitely a certain charm to the book but you have to be prepared for the run-of-the-mill storyline. About the author Claire Douglas knew she wanted to be a writer since she was a child. She studied journalism and then worked in the media for a while before moving on to write suspense and thriller novels. Her first book, The Sisters, won the Marie Claire Debut Novel Award in 2013. The Girls Who Disappeared instantly became a Sunday Times Bestseller. Douglas has been published in 15 countries. She lives in Bath, England, with her husband, children, and two cats. Three stars Fiction The Girls Who Disappeared Claire Douglas Published: 2022 Publisher: Penguin Random House UK Pages: 393, Paperback

‘The Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow’ by Laura Taylor Namey is a really simple, heartwarming story. It’s the book you should read when you don’t feel like reading anything. It will help you get over a reading slump that this weird weather seems to be great at inducing in even the most voracious readers I know. It’s a light read so you can dip in and out—read a couple of pages and come back to it whenever you want. After losing her grandmother, her best friend, and being dumped by her boyfriend in just a couple of months, Lila’s mental health is in shambles and she’s unable to cope. Her family is worried about her and they decide to send her to England for the summer—to live with some family friends at a small inn in Winchester. They hope a change of scene will heal her aching heart. But Lila’s a Miami girl through and through. She hates having to leave the city she grew up in and she is sure she will be miserable in England. But life has other plans. First, she meets Orion. Not only does he teach her a thing or two about tea, the most consumed beverage in England, but he also becomes her tour guide of sorts and takes her around the city. Surprisingly, she finds he eases her heartbreak a little—something that once felt impossible. Then, there are all these unexpected friends she makes. She also becomes interested in studying the culinary arts at one of the most prestigious schools in England, just an hour’s drive from Winchester. Will Lila give up the life she knew for something different? Or will England just be what it was supposed to be in the first place? A short distraction. ‘The Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow’ is a cute love story. But it’s also a story about finding yourself, in places you least expect to, and about how friends can be your anchor when you need it the most. It reminds you that nothing is permanent, least of all pain and that you can actually ‘grow through what you go through’. The setting is soothing and Namey’s writing brings the town right before your eyes. You feel like you are there, in the middle of it all. Apart from all the romance and life lessons, there are also a lot of mentions of food. So, fair warning, don’t read this one on an empty stomach or even when you feel like you could do with something to nibble on. It really made me want to grab a croissant or a cupcake so many times. All the talk of baking and Lila’s love for it will make your mouth water. Three and a half stars Fiction The Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow Laura Taylor Namey Published: 2020 Publisher: Atheneum Books Pages: 320, Paperback

‘Wahala’ by Nikki May caught my eye because the cover looked fun. The blurb and the recommendations at the back also made it sound good. But I should have known better than to judge a book by its cover. It wasn’t a bad book. But it wasn’t very good either. It didn’t leave me with the happy feeling that good books generally do, even if it’s a thriller or a traumatic memoir. In Nigerian culture, Wahala means trouble. Would it be too mean to say the book lives up to its name? But there I’ve said it. With too many POVs, the story feels chaotic and confusing. The characters aren’t fleshed out enough for the readers to truly care for them or their troubles. The issues feel superficial and forced. The premise was promising. I feel May couldn’t do justice to it. Ronke, Boo, and Simi have been friends for over a decade. They are British women of ‘mixed race’—with white English mothers and Nigerian fathers. At university, which is where they met, they bonded over the common identity and the baggage they carry because of it. These ambitious women are like family to one another but they have to work hard to keep it that way with too many issues in their own individual lives. When Isobel, Simi’s childhood friend, enters their lives, the already precarious situation is completely disturbed. Isobel is charming and fun. But she is also manipulative. She is rich and flashy and used to getting her way. The three friends have some secrets, ones they haven’t shared among themselves. But Isobel is sly enough to convince each of them to bare their hearts out to her. Pretty soon, things start to go wrong and there’s trouble brewing for the three women. There’s gossip, scandals, and a lot of destruction. May’s debut novel deals with many issues like race, class, and sexism. But none of these themes are explored enough to really shed light on them. Many readers might be able to identify with one of the four main characters and their messy lives. At times, as the women go about their days, cooking and visiting salons, you feel like you are in the company of friends you have known for a long time. The feeling, however, is fleeting. At best, Wahala is like a soap opera. It will entertain you but it will also have you rolling your eyes, exasperated by all the unnecessary drama. Two and half stars Fiction Wahala Nikki May Published: 2022 Publisher: Custom House Pages: 384, Paperback