"Blossom Showers" By Giselle Mehta moves forward!

"Blossom Showers" By Giselle Mehta moves forward!

Mangalore Today News Network

Compiled By: I J Saldanha Shet
Mangalore, Dec 1, 2011: GISELLE MEHTA of Mangalore, Unveiled her maiden novel ’Blossom Showers’, a family drama that spans a millennium, in Jaipur on Thursday - November 24,2011.

After it was launched at Mangalore in July 2011, it has now figures in the Best Seller Lists. Read about it’s North India debut from a reputed source. This is no doubt a must read book for every Indian, particularly the NRI!

 

 

NOTE: In the wake of this beautiful novel by Giselle Mehta, another English Novel is set to haunt discerning readers world wide. "SHADES within SHADOWS" authored by ALAN MACHADO PRABHU of ’Sarasvati’s Children’ (1999) fame is expected to launch his 300 page ethnic novel based on his extensive research on Konkani Catholics. Set mainly before the captivity era(18 century)  where as ’Blossom Showers’ is mainly post captivity (19&20 century). Strangely the books compliment each other and enlarge the thrill. Watch this space for a view of  "Shades within Shadows" shortly.

Booked for 100 years.
By: William Foster
‘From the mind and heart,’ was the theme of the evening at Reliance TimeOut at Pink Square Mall on Thursday Nov 24,2011. This is where the author Giselle Mehta unveiled her first novel Blossom Showers. The phrase, she explained, is a personal maxim of hers. It is what she wants to see in all her works—a balance emotions and intellect.

And, if the reviews for her book are anything to go by than Mehta has achieved what she set out to. The novel that has already made it to the top 10 bestseller lists in the country is a family drama set in between India’s Western Ghats and West Coast, focusing on a town much like Managalore. This fictional place is also deeply entrenched in historical events and culture. And the amount of research that has gone into this book impressed a lot of book lovers present at the launch. “The research that went in to this book is mind boggling. And it fits so well among Giselle’s flowing style, I couldn’t put it down!” exclaimed HC Parekh, president of India chapter of the International Book Readers Association.

 

 

The 447-page piece spans over 100 years, and is divided into three sections, each following a subsequent generation in the Cordelio family. Giselle explained that she needed to use such a long period to show the dynamics of the characters and society “The story shows that there’s no easy closure for personal issues and many of the characters carry emotional baggage,” she said. And though, Jaipur seems a strange place to promote a book that is so heavily-entrenched in the West.

Giselle had her own reasons. “I chose Jaipur as my gateway to the North India because it is a very literary city, even having its own literature festival,” she said. The inspiration for the story was found in literary masterpiece Gone With the Wind. “Both works feature land-owning aristocracies that dominate society, and I was interested in exploring that in an Indian setting,” shared the author. Formerly a poet, Giselle stated she couldn’t be happier that the response that her entry into prose world received. “The response has been beyond my wildest expectations,” she gushed. “So many people have caught on to the spirit of the book, lapping up all the historical details and the resonant emotions.”

 

 

ON MY SHELF
Giselle Mehta, writer : Shares her cup of tea!
Mozart gets her going... and  Gone With the Wind

Booked: As a fiction writer, I prefer mostly non-fiction, as it gives inspiration for stories and lets me to create my own voice. If a book is gripping, with a balance of emotions and intellect, such as Gone with the Wind, I don’t mind reading it. I am currently reading William Dalrymple’s From the Holy Mountain, a book about the Eastern Roman Empire and Christian Turkey. It’s interesting because I got back from Turkey in June and was enthralled by the locations.

Flick it: I enjoy movies a lot; they are a  nice break from reading and writing. My favourites definitely have to be classical Hollywood. Again, Gone with the Wind is a favourite and I could watch anything  with Ingrid Bergman in it. I also enjoy musicals; I could watch the Sound of Music and Fiddler on the Roof over and over, and again! I watch whatever’s coming out in Bollywood, but my heart is set in Hollywood, even though neither are very good nowadays! Tuned into: I mostly enjoy Western classical; all the old composers were so good, be it Mozart, Vivaldi or many of the others. My mother was a classical pianist so I’ve sort of been conditioned to like it, and because I have that upbringing, I’ve never really got into Bollywood. I also enjoy folk and Celtic music. —As told to William Foster.