The book ‘Jewels from the Treasure Trove’ by Anamika Kundu truly lives up to its title. Thirty-five short stories are really short and you will find them reading at a quick pace if you enjoy reading short stories. The tone of each story changes with every new one that starts after another. There is a a plethora of flavours you will enjoy in this collection of short stories, there is fantasy, there is historical fiction, there is sci-fi, there is thriller, and some of them are set in the urban setting and some in rural places. This is what has made the book even more interesting I would say!
The narration is simple and lucid and the book seems targeted particularly toward the young adult age group, which given the fact that the writer is also an English Teacher by profession kind of says it all. But, another best thing is that this is a perfect book for all age groups as well and nowhere the book turns monotonous or boring as there is a platter full of varied genres and subgenres served to you page after page by Anamika.
The backdrops are wisely chosen by the author and have merged well with the characters, their gestures, and their way of talking, used within the stories. The author seems to have a great knowledge about the varied places she has portrayed and the lingo of her characters has been reflected well. ‘By the Fireplace’ is one such story that I enjoyed reading a lot. Another story that falls in the thriller genre and stayed with me even after reading some days ago was ‘Dust to Mud, to Dust!' The story is set in an urban setting and shows the romance rekindling of two lovers tired from their everyday work routine and what goes wrong when they plan a vacation. What happens next will take you by surprise and the ending will give you some chills too. Another of my favourites from the book was ‘Paromita’ it has a beautiful tale woven about an adolescent girl whose life goes topsy-turvy with one wrong decision of the family. What happens at the end of this Bengali Household story is for you to know. One suggestion, I feel this story can be changed into a full-fledged novel, so I hope the author finds more inspiration to carve it into a bigger piece of work with some interesting twists and turns.
In the end, I would say that this is a book for everyone and all the stories have something different to cater to, some have a message that will touch you, some have an ending that will stay with you and some have many surprises for you when you will read this book to find out.
Review by Monalisa Joshi, Founder & Director, Chrysanthemum Chronicles: A Contemporary Publishing House.
A fun loving person who also happens to be an English teacher, Anamika Kundu loves to read, travel, listen to music, run half marathons and play various sports.
She has been privileged to travel across the country with her father and husband being officers in the Indian Army. Nurturing is her passion, be it her students or her garden. A warm and friendly person she states she has friends in every corner of the world.
A voracious reader she loves stories to read or narrate. She is happy her students connect with her inside and outside the classroom. Her rich experience covers many educational boards from CBSE to ICSE and IGCSE to IB curriculum.
Even as she rejoices turning silver her enthusiasm to learn has not diminished demonstrating that age is just a number.
You can follow her work on: www.anamikakundu.com
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/anamika703/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anamikak7
Amazon author central: https://www.amazon.com/author/anamika_kundu
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