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BOOK OF THE WEEK|Silent Echoes
Silent Echoes: It is the skill with which the subject matter has been handled that will keep you in thrall.
Silent Echoes
Amita Malhotra
• Price — Rs 200
• Publication — New Dawn Press
SUCCESS STORIES or fictions are what we generally like to read. We will be too happy to keep books on sufferings, sorrows and miseries at an arm’s length.
Even if we occasionally pick something in this genre, it is mainly due to the fact that a particular book has been over-hyped. Silent Echoes by Amita Malhotra is not hyped and is likely to miss your attention on your book-buying spree.
But if by chance you lay your hand onto it and flip through a few pages, you are likely to buy it. Once read through, it will stir you emotionally.
This a story of trials and tribulations of a young Indian woman married in England. The protagonist —Prerna — married into a business household in Liverpool, finds herself trapped in a vicious dowry trap. She undergoes a prolonged spell of illness and fight for survival.
Married at the age of 21 years, Prerna develops cancer at the age of 23, only to be thrown out from her in-laws’ house. Her fighting spirit and the support from her family make her stand up against all odds. She single-handedly raises her son, completes her education and in the end emerges a true fighter.
In the end, it is not the the literary merit of the book that you will relish. Instead, it is the skill with which the subject matter has been handled that will keep you in thrall.
