‘An Autograph for Anjali’, by Sundari Venkatraman.

It was in November of 2014 when I was struggling to release my first fiction novel, ‘The Love is dead; long live the Lust’. On one of the promo posts I had put up on FB, I remember Sundari Venkatraman telling me that the protagonist’s name in one of her WIPs is the same as that of the one in my book, Anjali. Little did I know that not only the name but the broad theme is the same too, though treated in a completely different way.

The patriarchal society we live in, unfortunately, has got two different set of rules for men and women. While we chose to turn a blind eye to a man who cheats or a philanderer husband, all hell breaks loose when a woman does the same, for whatever reasons. The author, through ‘AAfA’ has tried to highlight and in a way, challenge this ‘he-does-it-he’s-a-Stud; she-does-it-she’s-a-Slut’ mentality. The fact that the author had chosen to promote this one as a ‘romantic suspense’, had kind of prepared me for something different from the out-n-out romance in her earlier books. I did not, however, expect to read a murder in the very first chapter. That was when I prodded my pillow and sat up.

‘An Autograph for Anjali’ revolves around relationship and love- or the lack thereof- from a women’s perspective, and her suffering of being in a bland, suffocating, virtually non-existent marriage for two decades.

Jayant, a successful businessman, who ignores his wife and engages in illicit affairs outside of marriage; Anjali, the stifled wife who’s been living through it all and chooses to turn a blind eye, in spite of being well aware of her husband’s philandering ways; and Arjun, the grown up son who lends a calming, cooling effect to the whole scenario. Enter Parth, a writer/ author (Gee!), and you can already feel a faint hint of romance in the air. He ends up disturbing the status quo, only for the better, because Anjali, now has a shoulder to cry on and rest her tired head on.

Sundari Venkatraman having proved her mettle at being the master of desi romance time and again, ventured into a relatively new genre of suspense and crime, with AAfA. I’m sure it was purely for the sake of a certain comfort level that she weaved it so cleverly into romance, which is undoubtedly, her forte. Where the first half of the book revolves around Jayant’s murder, it’s evidently in the second half that the author truly came into her elements and gave us a treat of bold, expressive, smooth, uninhibited romance, like few besides SV can.

Overall, a feel-good read for a relaxed evening.

You can buy the paperback edition here: Paperback

Or buy AAfA and other books from the author here: SV-on-Amazon