A PARADOX OF DREAMS BY HARSHALI SINGH - Book 3 of The Haveli Series - Book Review

                                                                     Amazon.in

“Do you think when terrible things happen, it leaves a stain on the place where they occur?”

This is the story of Charu, the third daughter of the Sharma family, and her relationship with her beloved Anwar Haveli, the Haveli with a hundred doors; the saga of Charu, the baby “born with eyes too old in her infant face”, who lost her sight at the age of nine. The daughter of Arun and Uma, who walked with a limp, and yet, was stronger than she appeared. As was her daughter, Charu!

Charu, the girl beset by dreams, confusion and melancholy, but blessed with a powerful intuition that becomes stronger when she loses her sight. Unable to handle the little girl, her parents send her away to her grandmother in Surat, a turning point in their lives.

“The silences grew sharper, the distance between them longer.”

All her life she carries a “hurt that throbbed within her” and suffers nightmares of a past that lies deep buried within her. However, her acute sense of being able to read people’s feelings and thoughts brings Charu closer to her true calling in life, that of an empath.

The story begins when Charu and her close friend, ACP Ravi Nair, are summoned by Prithvi, an old friend of hers, to help find his 18-month-old daughter, Myra, who has been kidnapped. Much against her wishes, Charu agrees to help him in the investigation. Prithvi is now a minister from Haryana, a man with much influence, and very different from the young man he was when she knew him earlier.

Charu is independent and strong, but she is caged in her constant need to know where she is, given her disability. This makes her vulnerable, and she constantly pushes away love. “Love will not grow in the shadow of my perpetual need.”

Along with Ravi and the industrious Reeti, Charu works at the pieces of a puzzle till they fall into place. Solving crimes gives her a sense of power. The day Myra was kidnapped, her mother, Anumita, had gone to drop her elder daughter Sia in school. It was then that the nanny, Gita, found Myra’s cot empty.

There are numerous undercurrents in the house which Charu feels most intensely; between Prithvi and his wife Anumita, between Swami Ram Vilas Ji, Prithvi’s spiritual guru and Anumita’s stepmother, Malti Devi. These undercurrents come in the way of the investigation, often derailing it as suspicion falls on one from the other. Many of the characters are fighting inner demons, and as the investigation gains momentum, fragments of the past come together to create a mosaic that shocks and shatters. The house itself “is like a swamp of emotions” and Charu’s sensitivity allows her to be constantly battered by the various emotions that envelop her from all directions.

Harshali Singh once again proves her prowess as a writer, as she writes a book that is vastly different from her two earlier ones. She handles emotions with delicacy, and her narrative style veers from languid to thrilling, depending on the action in the story.

The mystery blossoms as the days go by, and by the end, the readers are left holding their breath as a rollercoaster of events almost sweeps them off their feet. There are so many endings that could be possible, and yet, the author walks along a tightrope to keep the suspense taut and thrilling.

The grand Anwar Haveli has the last word, as it muses over the people who live and love within its walls. “The end is also a beginning. A newness that springs unexpectedly, an old forgotten seed taking root.”

At the end, all that I can say is. “Thank God there are many more characters in the Haveli. I cannot wait to read about them in future!”  

                                                            Harshali Singh
 

 

Comments

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    1. Thank you so much! I have enjoyed all Harshali's books! Waiting for her next!

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