Book Review: Of Marriageable Age by Sharon Maas

Book Review

Book: Of Marriageable Age; Author: Sharon Mass; Publisher: Fingerprint; Pages: 510; Price: 350

There are some stories that leave a lingering after taste. Of Marriageable Age by Sharon Maas is one of those books.

The entwined stories of Savitri, Nat and Saroj that come chapter after chapter start from their very childhood, which is set years apart. Savitri, the youngest enigmatic girl of Iyer’s who serves the English household of Lindsays in Madras is set in pre Independence era (1920s), followed by the story of a young boy Nat adopted by a Doctor set in 1949 and the story of Saroj set in 1960s – Nat growing up in a village in Madras, while Saroj somewhere in South America.

The individual stories focusing on the three protagonists leave you going back to the brief about the book – about the lady who binds these three disparate lives. And that is what keeps you going – the desperation to know about the woman who will unite these three stories in the end. And when it does, you wish that this already heavy 520-pager book was even bigger.

From Madras, London, Guyana (South America) to Bombay, Singapore, the book takes you places, literally! It gives you an interesting insight into the English upper-class prejudices, the influences of the West, orthodox Hindu families settled in SA fighting for their space. The story of forbidden love spans across three continents and more than three decades – from Savitri in 1921 to Maa in 1969!

Maa’s magic cooking ingredient that made her dishes exquisite works of art, Savitri’s magical healing powers. Maa being the personal prophetess of her children and Savitri feeling that never ending longing for David. It’s when you know that Doctor is the David of Savitri’s life and Maa is the real Savitri, when you reach a stage that you don’t want to keep the book down.

It would be wrong to say that you don’t require patience to read the story, especially because unlike many other authors, Sharon has not left out even a single detail from their lives, which later falls in perspective.

All in all, the book published by Fingerprint is a fine read and once you get past the first few pages, it sucks you in its world- the world of Savitri, David, Nat, Saroj, her brother Ganesh, Henry, Fiona and the wicked Mani! Happy reading…

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