Review of the secret keeper of Jaipur

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alka Joshi is the New York Times bestselling author of The Henna Artist. Born in India and raised in the United States since the age of nine, she has a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from California College of the Arts. She lives in Pacific Grove, California, with her husband. This is her second novel.

BLURB:

Will the secret-keeper of Jaipur reveal what has remained buried for so long?
It is the spring of 1969. Lakshmi, now married to Dr Jay Kumar, is working at the Shimla community clinic. Malik has finished his private school education. At twenty, he has just met a young tribal woman, Nimmi, when he leaves to begin an apprenticeship at the Jaipur Palace. The royals’ latest project: a state-of-the-art cinema.
Malik soon finds that not much has changed as he navigates the Pink City of his childhood. Power and money still move seamlessly among the wealthy, and favors flow from Jaipur’s royal palace, but only if certain secrets remain buried. When the cinema’s balcony tragically collapses on opening night, blame is placed where it is convenient. Malik suspects something far darker and sets out to uncover the truth. As a young street urchin, he always knew to keep his own counsel; it’s a lesson that still serves him well. But it is only when Lakshmi, the real keeper of Jaipur’s secrets, intervenes, that things can truly right themselves

Review

A delicious engaging and a book that can get you glued is how I’d like to describe ‘ The secret keeper of jaipur’. First things first when I got my hands on this book in exchange for an honest review I was drowning in guilt because I knew this was a sequel and I hadn’t read the first book though it had great reviews. But I’d totally love to let out that the author had set the book as a standalone so it doesn’t matter if you didn’t read the first book she’s given all that you need to know who’s who. How cool is that?

Mmmm..Yes finally I had to give in to my guilt which is why it took me a long time to come up with this review. I took the plunge to read ‘The Henna artist’ and then get back to this book.

A fine transition to the second book and the perfect sequel I’d call it , I was happy that we encounter Lakshmi again here. Whoa boy, I did love how her character was sketched then and now here.

The natural healer , Lakshmi as how she is known gets married to Dr.Jay. Her helperMalik the one we all would definitely adore is all grown up and completes his education all set to step on foot to embark his journey into career. The mother and son encounter an acquaintance who is Nimmi a tribal woman, a widow and a mother of two children. She gathers flowers from Himalayan foothills and sells them . He falls in love with Nimmi, , Lakshmi is initially unhappy about the choice made by her son ,

He is sent as an apprentice to the facilities firm in Rajasthan. The cinema hall of, th the Royals is all set to open for the launch wherein a tragedy strikes on the D day, the balcony collapses and kills two people. Malik finds that the incident is due to poor quality materials used in construction and also uncovers political connections.

His mother Lakshmi on the other hand uncovers gold smuggling and knowing the dangers that would surround her close members she decides to deal it herself. Malik being in the center of the scandal becomes the keeper of secrets.

How do they get out of all this ?

The author known for her descriptive writing does not fail to create the visual imageries be it the foothills of himalayas or the sandy deserts. But what stands out to me in both books is how she portrayed Lakshmi.

That teeny tiny bit of romance between Malik and Nimmi which makes you think is it there or no..But yes can sense that but its sweet.

I’m really awaiting the release of the sequel that I surely know is going to supercede the two books.

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla in collaboration with VoxBox and Journey Matters.