The Turncoat's Widow- Book Review

The Turncoat’s Widow by Mally Becker 

Genre: Historical Fiction Mystery & Thrillers, Women's Fiction

3.5 Stars 

The book is about Rebecca Parcell or Becca, widow of Phillip Parcell, the supposed Patriot during the American Revolution. We see how he was a British spy and had made a list of fellow spies, which is supposed to be in Becca’s possession. 

She is targeted by the folk of Morristown for various reasons- hatred for her husband, suspicion on her loyalties towards the land, and for the list, she doesn’t even know existed. Above all, we see that she was an easy target for being different from the rest of them. 

Becca is offered a deal by none other than George Washington to find the list and be free of the rumors and the Council's threat to take away her farm. 

Daniel Alloway, an escaped British prisoner, is appointed as her protector when Becca travels to New York to uncover the mystery around her dead husband. 

The book is full of action, twists, and revelations. The lines between good and bad, friend and foe, blur as Becca gets embroiled deeper in the tangle of web around her. 

What I like: 

• It is a fast-paced story with a straightforward and crisp narration. 
• Some characters were interesting to read. (Augusta, Annie, Mason, etc.) I wished there was more information to give them the required depth. 
• A decent and neatly tied up ending that can lead to another book in the series (it does look that way). 
• Keeping the reader guessing about the twist. Half my guesses were right. 

What I Wished was Better: 

• Too many characters crammed into the story, causing confusion. (Yeah, they are necessary, but some could have been used without names). 
• There are no proper explanations for some developments in the story. I wouldn’t call these plot holes. It’s more of a lack of character development. 
• There is no real depth of emotions displayed by any character. Even Becca seems superficial and removed from the story. While that made reading easier, it would have been more impactful to delve into the emotional turmoil of the lead characters. 
• The love/ romance angle wasn’t explored enough. I understand there wasn’t time for it, but the emotional connection was not as strong as it should be. 

Overall, this is a good debut novel and was quite enjoyable. But it is a one-time read and not memorable enough to stay with me for a long time. 

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Level Best Books and am voluntarily leaving a review. 

#TheTurncoatsWidow #NetGalley 

The French House- Book Review

The French House by Helen Fripp (Previously titled The Champagne Widow)

Publication Date: 4th Mar 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Literary Fiction, Inspired by True Story  

4.3 Stars

The book is based on the true story of none other than Nicole Clicquot, the woman who ran the world’s greatest champagne house, Veuve Clicquot, when the world thought the business was no place for a lady. Of course, I wasn’t aware of this when I requested the book. The blurb and cover were enough to attract my attention.

The book deals with the life of Nicole Clicquot since she was 11 years old (1790) until the time things start to look hopeful after Russia defeats Napolean and decides to open the trade borders with France in 1815.

We see Nicole as a girl, a young lady with a spark in her eyes, a wife, a mother, a widow, and most importantly, an unrelenting businesswoman. She worked in the vineyards as a worker and took the business to new heights as a successful boss.

Of course, times were hard and even brutal. Things hit a new low, but Nicole continued. I’ve read about the great woman on Wikipedia and loved her grit.

Coming to the book, it’s a mix of facts and fiction. We have Louis, the real-life loyal salesman of the company, along with various fictional characters. The love shared by the husband and wife and their mutual love for the vineyards were taken from real life, the author said.

We see an array of characters, and a good number of them have been well developed. Theresa, Xavier, Natasha, Madame Oliver, Emile, Alexei, Moet (along with Nicole and Louis) have depth and appear quite real. They have flaws, they have positives, and their actions align with their personalities.

The descriptions of the vineyards, the growing vines, the champagne-making process are vivid and wonderful. I enjoyed them a lot. Some made me want to try champagne and see if it would really be as it was described in the book (I’m a teetotaller).

A lot happens in the book, and it can be overwhelming if you read it all at once. I mean, it felt like so much had happened, and I saw that I reached only 50% of the book. That’s both an advantage and a disadvantage.

This is one of those books you have to read in installments. You won’t mind putting it down to take a breather and pick it up the next day. But yes, you will pick it up.

Overall, The Champagne Widow is a lovely book with more grief and struggles than laughter, but it is worth reading if you like women-centric books, especially with a war backdrop.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture.

#TheChampagneWidow #NetGalley 

Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea- Book Review

Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea by Liz Eeles

Publication Date: 18th Feb 2021
Genre: Women’s Fiction

4 Stars

There’s nothing the view of the sea and the sky from the window of your childhood home. And the occasional mist that surrounds the house and isolates you from the rest of the world can be peaceful, stifling, or terrifying.

Rosie Merchant feels all of these and much more as she stands in the empty Driftwood House, located in the small seaside village, Heaven’s Cove. Her mother passed away when Rosie was in Spain, enjoying her life and work.

She gets back home to the village she couldn’t wait to escape from. What else could she do? But her plan of packing her mother’s possessions and catching the next possible flight crumbles when she receives a notice.

Confused between listening to her mind and her heart, Rosie finds it hard to come to terms with her mother’s death. One decision leads to another, and secrets start to trip her in the most unexpected ways. Was her life even real? What other secrets did her mother hide? How would it change Rosie's future?

Include a handful of villagers- Nessa, a single mother who fast becomes Rosie’s friend again, Liam, the school’s heartthrob, who is now a farmer with sad eyes and troubles of his own, Belinda, the lady who knows everything and can gossip from day to night, Katrina, who manages to inspire strong feelings without even trying, and a few others; the book is a mix of people we come to like and people we’d love to hate.

The setting and its descriptions are the highlights of the book. As a fan of settings, this pleases me to no end.

Luckily, the characters, too, were well developed to add more weight to the story. There is a good mix of show and tell, which set a steady pace for the narrative to create interest and hook the readers’ attention.

The story is neither too heavy nor too light. It has moments of smiles, chuckles, and sadness. Of course, we can guess the secrets, but then, this isn’t a thriller. The author keeps us invested in the characters, and we find ourselves wishing for something good to happen.

Yes, there is some romance as well. I found it quite nice to see how it develops over time rather than take us by surprise at how fast it seems to have proceeded. The story has a happy ending, and that made me very happy.

Overall, this is a warm and bittersweet book with wonderful locations and easy-to-understand characters.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture. 

P.S: I’ve come to expect more from the books by this publisher. The covers are fantastic and make me want to read them all.

#SecretsattheLastHouseBeforetheSea #NetGalley

Sanskrit Non-Translatables- Book Review

Sanskrit Non-Translatables: The Importance of Sankritizing English by Rajiv Malhotra and Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji 

Genre: Non-Fiction, Indian Culture, Ancient India, Language 

4.5 Stars 

Have you wondered how cultures are replaced and wiped off altogether overtime? Many ‘pagan’ or the non-Abrahamic civilizations died an unnatural death as the West tried to civilize anything that didn’t align with its ideas and thoughts. 

Some survived, barely. India is one such land. Among the various elements that resisted the forceful conversions, the subtle manipulations, and the brutal genocides, language is one crucial factor that has stood the test of time. 

Of course, any progressive sepoy from India will parrot that Sanskrit is a dead language. And they’ll do it with such contempt that one wonders whatever did a language do to them? Are they not speaking their mother tongue that has originated from the very dead language? 

And what do we say about how the ideas, inventions, and philosophies from ancient Bharat are first ridiculed, removed from the public’s memory, and then patented by the West, with claims that it was their own invention? 

Your turmeric latte and cow-hugging farms are the latest examples. (Read The Secret Doctrine by Madame Blavatsky if you want to know more about Bharat’s role in various branches of Science and Spirituality, among other subjects).

The modus operandi has been the same, be it in Ireland, Scotland, Africa, or India. Replace the local customs, create an equivalent in the new culture, and wipe off the roots of the original culture to declare that the adopted culture is superior and the only valid one in the entire world.

A recent attempt has been made to do the same to Onam, a Hindu festival. It was our luck that the attempts were refuted. But we know they won’t stop trying. If you are wondering why this is so dangerous to a culture, remember what happened to Halloween and Thanksgiving Day. Imagine celebrating a day that saw the genocide of millions of Native Indians who were the true owners of the land.

How many of today’s generation know that Halloween is much more than a costume party? How many know what happened to the Native Indians? How many know that Thanksgiving was not a New England custom but rather a harvest festival celebrated by the Natives? How can you stop a Native American child from looking down upon their ancestors when that’s all they are taught in the name of oneness and sameness?

Now, imagine what could have happened to a language as intricate as Sanskrit and land as diverse as Bharat.

Why is it that we lament how translating Russian is hard as a single dash could change the entire meaning? Why are that only languages like Russian or Urdu that do not have equivalents in English? What makes one declare that the same is not the case with Sanskrit? 

From being a land of universities like Takshasila and Nalanda, which attracted scholars from across the world, why is India struggling to regain its dignity and establish its ancient language? We know what had happened to the universities, no matter what a progressive scholar wants us to think. Books don’t burn themselves, nor do build crumble overnight. 

Sanskrit is much more than just a language. It is the root that holds the country deep down and keeps it alive. Kill the root, and you kill a country. Plain and simple. 

Sanskrit Non-Translatables talks about how even the simplest words in Sanskrit have been given wrong and superfluous meanings, which led to the ancient scripts being reduced to nothing more than a jumble of words. A word without its original meaning has no value in a paragraph. That is what has been happening with Sanskrit.  

The book explains how by learning the actual meanings of Sanskrit words and not equating them with insufficient English terms, we can save the language from being butchered and declared useless. This is an attempt to prevent the dilution of diverse identities. In a world that wants to have a diverse workforce, why is being an Indian Hindu a bad thing? 

If one can see Islamophobia, why can’t they see Hinduphobia? After all, there are more than a dozen Islamic countries while even India isn’t a Hindu nation. Aren’t our identities being replaced with the so-called polished and civilized versions as the West wants us to be? Why should we not resist this attack on our identity?

Sanskrit Non-Translatables explains how a Sanskrit word should be understood. It talks about Shabda- Brahman- the dhvani (sound) and artha (meaning), interconnected in a Sanskrit word. 

A Sanskrit word starts with vibrations. Call it energy waves if it makes things easier to understand. The vibration is a combination of the sound and the object. It is a manifestation of the sound and its meaning. 

An alphabet is called an Akshara in Sanskrit, which means imperishable. That’s how the language is, eternal and indestructible. The book explains the role of Vyakaranam (grammar), Madhyama (medium), and the importance of the Bija mantra, the source of vibrations in Sanskrit. 

There is an easy-to-understand table in the book for ready reference about how-

• Kavya is not poetry
• Kama is not lust
• Naga is not naked
• Atman is not soul
• Prema is not love
• Shakti is not Energy 

And many more. There is another chart at the end of the book that explains the difference between the Sanskrit word and its so-called English equivalent. There is a detailed bibliography in case one wants to look up the references. 

Sanskrit Non-Translatables is much more than an attempt to decolonize the brainwashed generations. It is about teaching the citizens that they should try to look beyond the popular opinions and learn how a culture has been able to survive as many attacks. It is a nudge to understand that one has to take pride in their culture if they need to have an identity of their own. It won’t take long to be a faceless admirer of the West if one were to hack off their own roots in ignorance and misplaced superiority. 

If you have felt offended by the review, you are not going to understand the book. I wouldn’t waste my time trying to convince you otherwise. 

If my review made you curious, I suggest you pick up the book. The writing is dry and sounds more like a thesis paper at times. But you will gain new insight into how civilizations have been destroyed. Remember that there are people out there who have no idea about the origins of their land because there is no one left to tell them the truth. Fluttering aimlessly like a leaf in the gusty wind may sound poetic but it’s not how a country or an individual should be.

And if the review made you order the book without a second thought, I wish you the very best. May you learn the intricacies of this beautiful language. It is not easy. I’m a newbie too, and still am guilty of trying to find equivalents in English. I’m trying to change that and hope you will also try. We don’t have to apologize for being Hindus or for learning Sanskrit. 

Remember- Sanskrit is not a dead language. It is the root, and we will nourish it back to its original glory.

This review has been posted as a part of The Thousand Reviewers Club. Thank you, Indic Academy and Indic Book Club, for a copy of the book.