Kevein Books and Reviews

The Pearl That Broke Its Shell is a debut novel of Afghan-American writer Nadia Hashimi. In the wake of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner , many more writers of the same descent have come up with similar stories where the plight of Afghanistan’s women have been a subject of sympathy for readers. The Pearl That Broke Its Shell is one such story: it can be assumed that it is, at some point, influenced by The Thousand Splendid Suns of Khaled Hosseini. The story is about girls and women of Afghanistan. Rahima and her sisters are often depressed and alone by the fact that they don’t have a brother who could have run errands for the family. On the other side, their father is an opium addict and is good for nothing. So, the need for a male chaperone in the family is their missing point. As suggested by her Aunt Shaima, Rahima has to become a bacha posh (a sort of boy to do all things until she gains maturity). She is send to school as a Rahim and there she joins the gang of boys, w...

In the Clifton Chronicles The Sins of the Father comes as a second book after Only Time Will Tell . The novel is based around the central character Harry Clifton. Harry joins the navy but when his ship sinks down he takes up a new identity of Tom Bradshaw. Well, he is imprisoned on the charges of Tom Bradshaw’s desertion. Back in England people have been informed about his death and burial in the sea. However, one person, Emma – his girlfriend – doesn’t believe the news of his death. She begins her job of finding him; she knows that he is alive but lost in some other’s identity. After finding a letter in his writing at his mother’s home and ‘The Diary of a Convict’ her hopes turns into sheer optimism. Not only Harry, there are other characters involved as well with much content and limelight. The best part of the story is that it doesn’t stagnant anywhere, it keeps rolling. After the sentence is over, Harry and his friend Patt join the army to fight the German enemies. Lik...

Susanna's Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond shot into fame when the movie ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’ featuring Priyanka Chopra hit the box office. It is said that the movie was inspired by this five-page short story. Well, it is, but if you read the story and see the movie you will feel the difference as well as like the short story over the movie. The narrator watches a big mansion in ruin, with a tomb inside it. He was a kid since then he has been seeing it like that only. On the tomb stated the generosity of the interred lady who donated and done for orphanages, churches, etc. He wants to know about the mansion and the tomb where no one goes, and tall wild grass, shrubs, and trees have obscured the pathways intensely. In the neighborhood lives a furniture maker, Naushad. His father used to make and supply furniture for the people living in the mansion. Upon asking, Naushad reveals that the tomb is of a famous lady Susanna, who was known for having seven husbands in one life. He ins...

The book ‘Victoria and Abdul’ by Shrabani Basu has been considered as love story. But it’s doubtful because the story is more of friendship and good understanding between a queen and her servant. On the occasion of her Golden Jubilee, Queen Victoria gets a plethora of male assistants from India, to serve upon her decorum from the land she now rules. Who would have thought that 24 year-old Abdul Karim, one among the servants will be etched in history as one of the Queen's closest confidant. Abdul Karim is the son of a local Indian doctor, Wuzeeruddin. Abdul was born in Agra with no formal education, he was taught Persian and Urdu, the court language of the Mughals. Wuzeeruddin was a medical assistant in the Agra jail under Dr. Tyler, the jail superintendent. Tyler found young Abdul Karim efficient and was impressed with his aesthetic sense. When the Queen wanted assistants from India for Jubilee celebration, Abdul Karim found his way into the Queen's home on the recomm...

Many agree that Time Stops at Shamli is a short story by Ruskin Bond. Well it looks like a novella. Shamli is a small-village kind of place in the foothills of the Himalayas. Whenever the narrator (Ruskin) travels to Delhi from Dehradun or vice versa, train stops at Shamli exactly for five minutes. Strange is that no one gets down or boards the train. Then, why does it stop there? He is inquisitive about this place. He wants to know what lies behind the station walls, behind the forest that starts immediately after the station platform. Several times he wished to get down to seek answers arising out of curiosity, but he could never muster up that courage. One night while returning from Delhi, travelling in a packed third-class compartment, the train stops at the Shamli station in the morning. But this time the train has been there for more than five minutes, soon it becomes fifteen minutes. The guard informs that due to some problem in the line clearance, train will halt ther...

It is a fact that most of the time school stories started and ended with characters like Billy Bunter and writers like Enid Blyton. Not so many famous school stories series have had been in circulation, and in India it is almost naught. Ruskin Bond writes about children, however most of his stories are based in the hills with vagrant child protagonists. Recently from India and for Indians, Duckbill publisher has started a school story series called ‘The Hill School Girls’. These stories will have girl(s) as a protagonist. From the series ‘Alone’ is the first book. Let’s see how it goes up. The book kicks up with a reticent character, Elizabeth. She is bit depresses because her current school is going to be a holistic school where children will be allowed to do lot of interactive things and the whole of the management is changing as well. But she is afraid to embrace this modernity. Due to changes in school, many parents have already pulled out their children. One such student...

In the Indian Horror Literature scenario, Neil D’Silva is a known name. Two years ago, his debut novel Maya’s New Husband, hit the bestselling charts. Having read two of his early novels Maya’s New Husband and The Evil Eye and The Charm, people have had high expectations while picking up Right Behind You. And for everyone’s delight, the book has really lived up to its expectations, and set a new bar in the Neil D’Silva’s journey as an Author. As the cover of the book matters most in the horror books, it is an open fact that this book’s cover is capable of scaring even the bravest lad in the city. The cover looks beautiful and apt in print. It can also spook readers out! Right Behind You takes the readers for a ride and they can’t predict the climaxes of all the stories. Kudos to the Author for writing engaging plots and unpredictable climaxes! Coming back to the book, it consists of 13 short stories, which is already specified in the book blurb. All the stories in the boo...