Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's - Sister of My Heart

Genre : Fiction
Rating : 3.5 /5

Thanks to Tasha for introducing me to Chitra Banerjee. As said earlier I was not very much convinced with the stories in the authors previous collection but din't I tell you there was something that kept me tied to the book. So as soon as I was done reading the last page of her 'Arranged Marriage', I picked her 'Sister of my heart'. And yes, I liked the latter better.

This book is about two bengali girls, Anju and Sudha, born on the same day, in the same house, to Bijoy and Gopal who are distantly related. Bijoy and Gopal die mysterious deaths on the day of the birth of their daughters. Anju, more level headed, practical, bold amongst the two is the daughter of prestigious Chaterjee family and Sudha, more beautiful, emotional, and a misty-eyed fairy tale believer is daughter of not so reputable cousin, Gopal. These two girls are bonded with kind of love that is seen only in twins. They complement each other in many ways and may be that is the reason why their wavelenght always matches.

The story unfolds in the Chatterjee villa, full of ladies ( Anju's and Sudha's mothers, Anju's aunt and Ramur Ma. Their driver, Singhji is the only male in the house). The strong emotional bond between both girls is the envy of their mothers, their aunts, their friends. Altough their love for one another is altruistic, they are on different economic planes. Sudha and her mother know that they cannot be independent and must stay on good terms with Anju's family. Anju has wealth and Sudha has unusual beauty. Despite their disparity, both the girls are the best friends. Their affection is breached when Sudha learns about the dark secret of her father's death. The bitter truth besiges her and she tries to stay away from Anju. As the time passes the differences between the two grow to an extent that after marriage they sunder emotionally. They start avoiding each other, their ph calls reduce and they hesitate to reveal the happenings in their lives. Though they miss each other, they shilly-shally in expressing it to each other untill one day when their sisterly love prods them to be together.

In this novel, Chitra Banerjee has intertwined stories-within-stories which brings beautiful images of India, Calcutta to be specific, of seventies. Story is cliche but it doesnt astray from the main characters. This book, of conservative parents, forbidden romance, high expectation of inlaws, may let down few of you, but is good read to float in the author's lyrical style of story-telling.