The Storyteller’s Secret by Sejal Badani

About the book:

(from the publisher) Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past.

Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation. Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.

Genre: Fiction/General/Women’s Fiction/Historical

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: PG

About the author:

A former attorney, Sejal Badani is the author of the bestselling novel and Goodreads Fiction Award finalist Trail of Broken Wings. When not writing, Sejal enjoys reading and traveling.

Connect with the author: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

My take:

Based on the premise alone and aided by its pretty cover, I easily said yes to reading The Storyteller’s Secret. And first impressions were indeed bolstered by a hook beginning that drew me immediately into a compelling story of family secrets and fractured relationships. It’s a slip-time novel, told in alternating present-past narratives, a technique that works well here. I especially liked the way the two plotlines incorporated issues specifically relevant to each time and place.

While the details of Amisha’s story at first enthralled me, in time I became less interested as I predicted the likely outcome of her story. The same could not be said, however, about the outcome of Jaya’s story, whose particular ending I did not anticipate. Despite this disparity, by story’s end, the two plotlines joined together to create an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Readers who enjoy slip-time novels involving complicated family relationships — and who furthermore are fascinated by the mystery and complexity of India’s people and culture — will likely want to give The Storyteller’s Secret a try.

Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and Wunderkind PR for providing me this book free of charge. All opinions are mine.

Buy it here. 

After words:

What’s a recent slip-time novel you’ve enjoyed?