Here are the five dog-eared books I mention in my podcast for DesiBooks hosted by Jenny Bhatt. My selections are very different from each other but I learnt something from all.

Episode 19 features Shubhanga Pandey talking about the importance and ethos of Himal South Asian journal, and in the next segment at 49:38 minutes you can hear my piece on ‘Five Desi Faves’.

UK edition released 1 November 2020
Intelligent and Perceptive Reviews are rolling in!
Published by Linen Press in the U.K & Brighthorse Books in the U.S.
Available globally in print or e-book. Get your copy now.

‘This ambitious novel is both epic and intimate as Jindal moves seamlessly between domestic family scenes, the passion of an illicit love affair and the instability of political parties vying for power at any cost. The writing is accomplished, the story is thrilling with a bombshell of an ending.’

https://amzn.to/3i6urk6

This stunning crisply paced novel reveals its interwoven themes and storylines in social-realistic style. Manual For a Decent Life is excitingly ambitious, exploring dilemmas around politics, gender and sex at a fascinating moment in Indian history.
– Michele Roberts, author of the Booker-Prize-shortlisted Daughters of the House.

The rapid pace of the plot makes for edge-of-seat excitement.
– Saleem Peeradina, author of Heart’s Beast: New and Selected Poems.

A compelling novel that is impossible to put down.
– Manju Kapur, author of Difficult Daughters.

A heart-searching novel with a wide sweep. Its themes of Indian family, female identity and power struggles are of contemporary significance.
– Russell Celyn Jones, author of The Ninth Wave.

More Reviews

The book drips with symbolism and portent… This book will live with me.
– The Book Review. Read the full review here.

Manual For A Decent Life is filled with energy and sensuality, and Jindal serves a satisfying feast for the adventurous reader.
– Gabrielle Barnby

Lyrical prose and great characters kept me hooked to the end.
Tracy Fells in The Literary Pig. Read the full review here.

It is a fascinating love story set in the political turmoil of that time, an account of how people adapt themselves to these shifts of power and values, as it raises important questions about the independence of women and the choices that they make in that society.
– Jennifer Wong

An authentic book that needed to be written… This world we see; restrictive and conservative, then glamorous and modern, makes the book unique.
– Mona Dash

I was particularly fond of, and impressed by, the wider set of characters each playing their parts in the overarching narrative. Waheeda’s friends and family feel very real. We are forced to contemplate the extent to which we are all prepared to risk not only our careers and social standing, but our family and friends simply to fulfil desire.
– Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone

Maybe I have led too sheltered a life, but I have to admit I was taken aback by some of the sex scenes in the book.
– Eastern Eye

A riveting book. The kind you’d read in one sitting, if only you didn’t want to pause and reflect over the depth of the situations hidden behind the almost simple prose. The kind of book you want to re-read, immediately after turning the last page.
– Reader Review

A masterly account of one woman’s lone battle – (albeit aided and abetted patronizingly) to get elected. Woven into it are hauntingly lovely descriptions of the finer and grimmer versions of day to day life.
– Reader Review

Brilliant, edifying, terrifying.
– Reader Review

I had trouble putting this book down once I began. The writing is masterful.
– Reader Review

Links to Reviews

The Book Review Literacy Trust. Read the full review here.
Asian Review of Books
Rebekah Lattin Rawstrone
Ars Artium
Amazon
Goodreads
An Interview with The Literary Pig

Read the opening chapter of the novel at berfrois.

Feels strange to listen to myself, perhaps because I write in silent mode. Here are some of my recorded poems on the amazing archive of international poetry lyrikline.org.

Many thanks to VerseVille magazine and Sonnet Mondal for inviting me to contribute.

And a shout out to my son for doing the recording.

 

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🌸 Today we uncover Kavita A. Jindal’s writing habits and peek inside her #ARoomOfOnesOwn! 🖊 The author of Manual for a Decent Life and Whole Kahani co-founder tells us about her writing room and the other places she likes to write – both during the day, and in the middle of the night! – explaining: . “I carry a notebook and pen in the old-fashioned way everywhere I go and I write in it when anything strikes me and I can actually stop to write. I write when waiting for people. I write on the tube or the bus – although that’s sometimes scrawly and illegible, even to me. Mostly I write in the middle of the night with a pen light. Bed is the best writing and thinking space. . When I have to write something on a computer though, which means something that I have a deadline for, or something that I have to send somewhere as it’s being awaited, then I write in my little study. This is a photo of that space. I like to face a blank wall because I’m easily distracted. A blank wall is like a window for me, I go through it into the world I’m constructing and I return through it when I need to return to my real world. . When I want to turn away from words on the screen and concentrate on a point in the distance I gaze outside through the balcony door to my right. There’s light and open space and playing fields, just perfect. . My writing space is small and this photo is carefully managed. Everything at eye level is reasonably neat because I need it to be, to be able to concentrate. The floor is piled high with towers of paper and books-to-read which have been pushed out of shot. So the photo is part veracity and part fiction.” . 📖 The digital version of Kavita’s prize-winning debut novel about power, gender and politics in India in the late 90s, Manual for a Decent Life, is currently available to purchase for only £5.99 from our online shop. Look out for the paperback, which will be published in October! 💫 . #writingroom #kavitaajindal #manualforadecentlife #politicalfiction #diversebooks #diversereads #indianbooks #indianauthors #feministbooks #feministreads #womenwriters #readmorewomen #writerscommunity #bookstagram #feministpublisher #indiepublisher #indiepublishing

A post shared by Linen Press Books (@linenpressbooks) on Aug 12, 2020 at 10:35am PDT