Ancient Promises - Book Review

A non-cliche love story

A story of love, heartbreaks, and marriage, Indian author Jaishree Misra’s beautiful narration is nothing but a perfect romantic and coming-of-age novel. It has interesting plot twists that keep the readers gripped. Janaki, the heroine is a representative of the typical Indian woman whose life gets altered and faulted through marriage and family life. The book makes us think about the difference it would make if women had enough courage and strength to defy conventions and live for themselves instead of conforming to social norms.

I was really glad that I came across this book. I actually bought it because it was prescribed in our third-year syllabus. My opinion about Indian English literature changed for the good after reading Ancient Promises. I realized that there are talented English authors in India, different from the cheesy romance books we’re presented with more often. The setting of the novel is mostly a small fictional town in Kerala.

This is a heartrending story of love and family loyalty. The book brings out significant themes of the difficulties of differently-abled children. The book is about Janaki’s life from teenager to adulthood. It’s about her lost love, early marriage and her brave step to finding happiness. Her miserable life makes her stronger and she finds the courage to make things better.

Janu impresses us with her extraordinary tolerance and perseverance. She reminds us of the many women we know in our lives. Her child and life’s circumstances drive her to find an oasis for herself by defying social conventions. Determined to follow her heart rather than her mind, she gives up many things including her so-called “dignity”. What else makes an awesome female character! Janaki has become my most recent favorite heroine from a book.

Janaki reminds me of the typical Indian girl born into a middle-class family who starts a marriage life under the influence of her parents. Her opinions on extending marriage to few years later are not accepted and discarded with silly reasons. She anyway, accepts it without any grudges because she wants to make her parents happy and make amends for a mistake she did. Her situations are very much relatable.

I almost like everything about the book including the attractive cover design. An interesting fact about this book is that it’s a semi-autobiography, as stated by the author herself.

I could write on and on about this book. If you have read so far, tell me your opinion about this and have you read it yet?

Goodreads rating: 3.8/5 My Rating: 5/5