Verdict: A passionate tale of beauty, power, love and seduction. With mesmerizing language, the book almost reaches perfection.
Rating: 3.5/5

Publisher: Penguin
Price: 299 INR

Set in colonial India of the early 1900s, this masterpiece will surely take you back in time to silently witness the life of Anuradha. She is a fabled beauty, whom even the peacocks come to bid farewell to as she leaves her home in Udaipur to meet a potential husband, Vardhaman Gandharva in what Bombay was at that time. With an almost mystical tone, Sanghvi takes the reader through a wild and yet tragic love story, where an unforeseen tragedy hits the couple.

Anuradha boldly returns home, only to involve herself in music and songs that enrich her soul. Here, her life entwines with that of her cousin, Nandini, a seductive orphan who not only possesses the gift of painting but also a dark heart with a dangerous attraction towards panthers.

Will Anuradha welcome the new changes in her life and adapt to one without her husband or will their love conquer over all and bring the two back together?

Sanghvi writes with an unseen passion for words. He captures the mind of the reader and at his will, we enter this new realm he has created and are always left yearning for more. A page turner, this novel is fresh, romantic and almost musical. Gradual layers of the characters and their emotions are revealed as Sanghvi challenges the mere idea of love and how even love has two sides.

A refreshing change from the usual love stories, this book is a must read – if not for the story, definitely for Sanghvi’s mesmerizing words and his natural ability to capture the reader with his descriptive sentences.