The Indian Reading Duo
Author – Alka Joshi
Genre – Historical fiction
Published – March 2020
🌸We all know we have a big pile of TBR. But we often found this book in recommendations and something about the acclaimed book made us have a peep inside it and we got hooked!
🌸Alka has penned down this story with much ease and simplicity. Story unfurls in the beautiful pink city ‘Jaipur’ in Rajasthan,India in post independence 1950s. Lakshmi,the protagonist flees from her husband Hari in rural village and eventually finds solace in her work Henna designing for elite class of ladies. It is her bread and butter and passion too which also makes her excel in herbal knowledge with help of her mother in law. Her expertise leads her into client households with her treats to heal their ailments. She has sufficient comprehensions which helps her in treating physical ailments including conceiving or aborting. She manages to earn at level that she builds her house and bring home her old age parents too. Infact her talent gives her fame to a level that she almost reaches the royal palace!
🌸But her world turns upside down when her husband shows up on her door with her younger sister Radha which she didn’t know exist to date. Her proclamation and perfect matching blue green eyes like hers make her belive. But destiny had unexpected events in her life! Her sister being teenager has unpredictable behaviour. Lakshmi meets Samir, Dr Kumar and Malik in her journey of makeover and despite having strong characters in story, Lakshmi was radically impactful who believed in love, work, support, forgiveness and let it go…
🌸End of the book made a void in my thought process making me sad,but not incapacitating. It feels good to know Henna Artist will turn into a series! I was stunned to know Alka is debutant and she created flawless craft with a gynocentric story where protagonist carved a niche for herself in challenging situations.
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