Kevein Books and Reviews

We are delighted to welcome a very promising novelist Amar Singh for a brief Q & A session at our website about his recent novel ‘The Third’ . In this Q & A session, he will be talking about his writing aspirations, inclination towards contemporary self-aware fiction, and the route to getting his novel published. Stay on...while we chat with him. Would you mind telling a bit about your novel – maybe in two or three sentences? ‘The Third’ is a novella about an intelligent young man who sees for himself that he is conditioned, and that his life is full of conflicts, fear and sorrow. He is identified with his mind and tries his best to fight it out with life to finally realize that the root cause of all pains was his identity. Only when the mind gives up in response to unbearable sorrow, loneliness and visions inexplicable by the mind that he realizes his true self. What inspired you to write this novel? Any tales... I have always appreciated the scriptures for th

The Girl with Golden Thoughts by Ashutosh Jogia is a fantastic Hindi novel of optimum length. The story revolves around a girl called Nirjara. Other characters think that she is the same girl whom they assume ‘The Girl with Golden Thoughts’ in some magazine. Well, the lead character Vyom and Alisha first investigate that and then send their shy friend Bhaskar in the hope of forming a love story with Nirjara. How it all works up, fills up the rest of the narration. There are a lot of twists and turns in the story and I really liked the political drama and the teachings that come for the society. It is mixture of a few themes into one, such as romance, friendship, politics, spy, and so on. Though it is written in Hindi and I admit that I do not read many Hindi or other language novels, but this one had a different charm on me. I was swayed by its charm that since very first page I decided that I will complete the book, no matter what may come. But slightly I got confused w

I am in Love with a Shudh Desi Firangi by Dipnanda Bhaduri Roy is a captivating romance novel with doses of religious spirituality. The novel is built around the lead character Kattyayani (Katty) Chatterjee. She is simple, sober, academically brilliant, and to some extent the pride flag bearer of her family. However, her only mistake was that she fell in love with a wrong guy…yes…you heard right? Just on the day of her examination, she gets the breakup news. Her six-year-long boyfriend Arnab breaks with her. The reasons are her coldness and lackluster in overall grooming and so on. Anyway, post the breakup, like many other girls, she too felt depressed and got a little diffident on the topic of love. The initial part of the novel deals with tension and depression, a kind of melancholy lingers. Surprisingly, there was no weeping and wailing from the girl’s side. With family history, cultural ethos and beliefs, and Calcutta as a backdrop, the novel chugs ahead silently. It’s

The Third by Amar Singh is a thought-provoking work of fiction, with strong doses of philosophy and spirituality. At large, through the concerning voice of Aryan, the book delves into the deep-rooted, rusted patterns of our society. The Indian society gives an impression of a united façade; however, deep within it is fragmented and programmed in not-so-rational way. As an individual, either one conforms to the protocols and patterns of the society, or turn out to be an outlaw. But both circumstances assure no substantial peace. Aryan is the protagonist of the novel. He is seen into a pattern called life. The novel covers his major live events until he supposedly dies at the age of 45. But the question is, was he happy and a well fit in that? May be or may be not? Aryan is a special child – he has unspoken challenges and questions for the society. Paradoxically, is the society in which he lives and falls back capable of clarifying his doubts? Read on the book to know his tus

A Week with Enya by Amar B. Singh is a delicate collection of poems concerning the voice of a father and a life explorer. The collection offers over 20 poems, mostly written in simple, lucid, and prosaic form. Each poem is a gem in the collection and makes us cogitate about us being human and our existence. Through contemporary poems, it has become a saga profound to challenge the perceptions that gripped our beliefs and allied existence. This collection is quite modern in its semblance, as we run through the poems and prose, we find the voice of the poet shuttling between his desires and his life at working ambiences. There is everything that it’s being a modern poetry collection, for instance, in the poem ‘The Pursuit of Intelligence’ the poet mocks the smart people for lusting after smart technologies like AI, ML, etc., but the same smart people are unable to communicate with an innocent, subtly autistic, child. Isn’t ironical? The way Amar Singh weaves the voice and

I am familiar with J Peters, I had read his first novel (probably first in the school/college series) Small Fingernails . That novel was more on teenage madness along with a love story and mental health instability. It was good – how he chased Dorothea and broke with her was a little embarrassing and uncomfortable for me. But overall, I enjoyed the author’s conviction and honesty in narration. His second novel University on Watch , presumably a sequel to Small Fingernails is a terrific knock on the malleable hearts and adamant minds. The protagonist, written in biographical way, J Peters, this time posing as SUS struggles to get admission in English Graduate School at New London College. The only sad thing about the narration was author’s affinity for trouble in the form of drugs and suicidal attempts. This frustrates many close to him, including his parents; subsequently, he grows barren and secluded. But still, his will to overcome the mental health issues seem taking corn

As the novel opens up, we see the female protagonist, Neera Singh, is spoilt for job choices, but before she could decide on her pick, she gets a call from a strange recruiting agency offering her a position irrelevant to her excellent academic achievement. After many rounds of discussions on this new job offer, she accepted to work overseas as an undercover agent wearing a mask of an Indian Foreign Services Officer. Her first posting was in Hong Kong, and while she was working to unearth a racket involved in shipping fake Indian currency, she gets to know Dr. Prakash Rao, working for the Indian Intelligence Agency as Head of Hong Kong operations. Soon both, Neera and Prakash had to work together, first to get the culprits who were pumping the fake currency into the country and then to investigate the truth behind the deaths of three agents, which were confirmed as ill-fated casualties. As you delve deep into the storyline, things become clear and follow a set line for solvin

Small Fingernails by J Peters is a beautifully written part romance, part biographical novel. Though the novel is short, its narrative has strict voice and an amazing sense of intensity. After reading it in one sitting at night, I woke up with a feeling that love is a delicate fabric, only those who care for it can handle and deserve it. Since the protagonist of the novel is a college lad ‘Jacques’, I personally feel that the novel got a juvenile attitude towards a tender feeling called love. It is right to reckon that the young lad screwed up his love life owing to mean friends around and some mental instability issues. From college guys, maturity cannot be expected overnight, thus I understood why there were a lot of mood swings and disturbances when the lead guy is chasing his girl Dorothea. The story is backdropped against a college in Freedomtown where the lead character Jacques is all excited about his coming college years, especially when he gets into a group of fr

Simple, superb, and engaging! In one word, this collection is lollapalooza. Forty one stories and each story substantial enough to stir your soul. Also, the morals the stories carry forward can never go unnoticed. ‘Stories of Us’ (The Common Man) by Bobby Sachdeva is a book needs to be savoured by the society in its raw form. High on societal grim realities, this collection provides enough fodder for perception change that you hold for common folks. The author’s main focus has been on all the aspects of our society, the range covers issues and privations from low to medium to elite class people. There are some things like pain, suffocation, prejudice, and miserableness – it is found everywhere. Well, at times poor suffer in the devoid of facilities, and rich get it via unspoken misery. Stories like Boarding Pass, The Bright Old Scooter, 56 Offerings, The Theft are strict on social status facade but from within a strange void troubles for peacemaking, while My Sunday Fathe

“She Stood by Me” is a contemporary romance fiction, written by Tarun Vikash. The novel is poignant in expressing a message that love is just not a relationship, rather it is more than a relationship and a feeling that is beyond comprehension. There come and goes millions of romance cum love stories in the market, but the kind of chirpiness and liveliness this novel contains is rare to find. The story commences with Abhi and Aparna. Both are students, looking forward to crack some exams, and for the same they attend the same coaching class in Patna. In the initial chapters, we also see other important yet auxiliary characters like Manish, Nidhi, parents, sisters, dads, and so on. All may not have a direct effect on the storyline, but some or other way catalytic to the overall plot. Abhi and Aparna have a liking for each other and begin seeing each other since very early. The way they manage to date without phones and other smart facilities is really charming. That time the cu

We are delighted to welcome a very promising author and IT Entrepreneur, Ramya Moorthy , for a brief Q & A session at our website about her recent Amazon Bestseller book: A Journey in Search of Happiness . In this Q & A session, she will be talking about her writing aspirations, inclination towards self-help books, and the route to getting her novel published. Stay on...while we chat with her. First off, we would like to know a bit about your life as an IT entrepreneur? As an Engineering graduate, I worked with many MNCs for 14+ years at Bengaluru. I have no love to settle outside India though I travelled various countries before marriage. Being a nuclear family, after my 2nd daughter’s birth, it was highly challenging to manage my personal and work commitments. As my priorities changed, I decided to quit my highly paid IT job when my kids were 3.5 and 2 years old. But soon within few weeks, I decided to register my company so that I can do the work that I l

The Abandoned Daughter by Hyma Goparaju is a soul-stirring work of fiction. Set in 19th century, the novel takes us to the roots of the Indian patriarchal society, which seemed brutally ruthless towards a gender called female. The novel opens up with a powerful scene, where a mother has to resist as well as to embrace the death of her newborn baby. Why? Because the newborn is a girl. Shockingly this is quite common in the village Sarhaipur and nearby. As the story chugs ahead, in the limelight comes Gomti Devi. She is a village landlord with five sons. She is the major head of the mansion where all live. She controls a huge family. She has five daughters-in-law, but surprisingly yet to have a grandchild. Why? So far all her grandchildren born were girls, so she killed them brutally. At Gomti’s house and in the nearby area, it has become a custom to kill baby girls for various reasons. Once you get into the book, you will get introduced to the lineage of beliefs that has a

From Stressed to Sorted by Sonam Chamaria is a beautifully written refreshing new generation self-help book. If you heed on the cover page, you will get to know that it offers 11 ultimate life-changing happiness hacks for millennials. Well, the interrupting point is that the book is so good that it does not only help millennials but also beyond that age tag. The book is intelligently segmented into eleven chapters and each chapter offers a new perspective towards leading a happy life. Of course, all self-help book aims to make people’s life happy and satisfied, however, in the process of offering that help, they either become too boring or sound repetitive. This one by Sonam seems like true on life experiences, probably the author has penned down quite a few instances spiraling from her own life. Each chapter starts with a personalized or say fictionalized story and then the author takes the lead and make us understand the value in it via content, drawings, and something cool

The Leap by Nita Bajoria is a beautifully written book with much inclination to science fiction. If you have heard about Elon Musk and his dream of dying at the planet Mars, well then you will have ease to grasp the pure essence of this book first-hand. It’s Elon Musk, the mastermind behind Tesla that has ventured into interplanetary transport system and his belief to colonize Mars. The book is built around life in space, especially at some other planet: like Mars. So, what’s in the book? The novel holds stories of many who wish or dream to be on Mars. And for each person, reasons differ entirely. And here lies the beauty of the book. The author has roamed across the globe, delved deep into the cross-cultural backdrops, to bring out alive those stories. As the story begins, we see that the planet earth is suffering from population explosion, all sorts of pollution and what not. The place called earth is becoming a place to leave owing to the brilliance of the human race. Well

We are delighted to welcome a very talented novelist, Atul Sharma , for a brief Q & A session at our website about his recent novel: The Illegitimate Dollars . In this Q & A session, he will be talking about his writing aspirations, inclination towards historical fiction, and the route to getting his novel published. Stay on...while we chat with him. What inspired you to pen down this novel? Any tales… My years of work on the cruise ships, wearing different hats and performing diverse roles, along with the time spent in the US during the student life, exposed me to some phenomenal experiences, diversity, cuisines, myriad places and interesting people. I was taken aback on learning the stark reality of the student life, lived by majority of students. One such event happened with me, and it remained stuck with it for a decade before I decided to express myself through a story-truly worthy of telling one and all. What do you do when you are not writing? Cooking

A Tryst with Mahakaal by Tilak Dutta is a part thriller and part dystopian novel in its semblance. However, there are some other sub-themes as well that, at times, run deep in the backdrop and look overwhelming. The novel stands out for blending themes and characters and climaxes all into a heady mixture of fiction. By all standards, Tilak Dutta managed to pen down a riveting tale that will be taken seriously by hard core readers across the world. And for that there are reasons. Well, coming to the story, the initial chapters give hunch about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. We see Leela as one of the major characters, her grooming and later life has a lot to do with the freedom struggle of India and INA. In short, she holds an interesting and enigmatic ancestral history that has seen war and freedom first hand.   The main storyline picks up when Leela along with some other activists working in the favour of refugee crises in north-east India got attacked by a gang, possibly back

We are delighted to welcome a very talented novelist, Kaushikk Yegnan , for a brief Q & A session at our website about his recent novella: The Lost Gold . In this Q & A session, he will be talking about his writing aspirations, inclination towards historical fiction, and the route to getting his novella published. Stay on...while we chat with him. What inspired you to pen down this novella? Any tales… A mixed bucket of experiences and sensitivities. I had an Austrian Catholic Priest, Fr Oesch, in school who came from an aristocratic background and also was a budding sportsman, who quit all to come down to India and help drive education with the Jesuits Society.   He taught us early nuances of athletics and football and stayed on to finger lead us to super levels of sporting milestones. I can never forget the stern, sincere, silence in his eyes, when we discussed about athletic stars of the times. It took me over 3 decades of hard core living & breathing