Digital Marketer | Mom blogger

It was a weekend, however mine looked like it was going to be a boring one! Hubby was off at an offsite team building workshop and kids had gone to meet their grandparents. My great plans of a spa and loads of shopping went ‘kapoot’ as the rain gods decided to play spoiler. Google weather predicted moderate to heavy rains all weekend. Just as I was getting restless and sad about wasting a whole weekend cooped up in the house alone, the doorbell rang. It was a courier with a brand new book! Suddenly my terrible weekend wasn’t turning so bad afterall.

After making a tall mug of coffee and settling in near my favourite window seat. I read the synopses. “The Forgotten Affair is a gripping story of a woman caught between two worlds” it read…that and the front cover which asked a rather filmy question “How far would you go to reclaim your lost love? I chuckled and expected a typical Bollywood style story, but I have to say I was wrong.

The story is of a young woman Sagarika who has had a near fatal accident and after being in coma for 6 months, is now awake but can’t remember anything from her past. While this is very Bollywood, I liked the fact that the story isn’t preachy. It is about a woman of today and as you read you can identify with her expectations from her marriage. Gone are the days when woman preferred to be a timid second to their husband.

The story is very modern, with ample twists. Though I felt the end was a little rushed and some things just happened on cue like Bollywood, overall it’s a good read. It is a story of relationships and love but more than that it is also a story of self discovery. I liked a sentence in the book “Sometimes you need to forget everything in order to recognize what matters most.” This is so true in our daily life too. There is so much happening, that it is very easy to lose focus of what is really important and something similar happens to Sagarika.

While Sagarika’s husband Rishab, ensures that she is well taken care of in the hospital and then back at home, he seems elusive about their past and that is something which is very unsettling for Sagarika. He seems to be hiding something and she can’t figure it out. Add to it the fact that a particular fragrance send her in a tizzy and her obsession with word Cheeni, you really feel for her as she is clutching onto bits and pieces of her memory. The character of Sagarika, her vulnerability, her stark contrast personalities are something that Kanchana Banerjee, the author of the book has etched very well.

I would have loved to see more depth to the characters of Rishab and Akash, but they are personalities that you can identify with. I like stories which are about today, which dwell in today’s problems and are human enough that we could relate to or atleast believe that such people are possible and that is what Kanchana has managed to bring out. All the characters are very believable and that is another reason which keeps you hooked to the book.

I loved the end! I won’t spill the beans, but I would not have liked the book any other way.

• ‘I received a copy from Writersmelon.com in exchange of an honest and unbiased review.’ And share the love !