Title:
Duty and Desire
Series:
Winds of Fire #1
Author:
Anju Gattani
Genre:
Family Saga
Publisher:
Greenbrier Book Co.
Ebook/Paperback
Pages:
304
Purchase:
Book
Description:
How Can
Happiness Survive When Duty Clashes With Desire?
Sheetal
Prasad has it all: youth, beauty, wealth and education. But when this
modern Indian woman surrenders love for honor and marries into
India’s most glamorous ‘royal family’, these very advantages
turn against her and she is stripped of her freedom.
Meet the
Dhanrajs — a powerful family bound together by a web of lies where
infidelity, greed, secrets and hidden identities lurk beneath the
lush tapestry. The Dhanrajs have plenty to hide and will do what it
takes to mask the truth from the world.
As
Sheetal peels back the layers of deceit, she confronts a haunting
reality and is threatened by the blazes of passion she ignites.
Excerpt
from DUTY AND DESIRE:
“…This
wasn’t just any wedding. This was her wedding! She was the bride!
And she was marrying a stranger. She raised her right hand to signal
her mother for help.
The
stranger grabbed her hand and forced her to rise from the lotus-like
position. A priest then came to stand behind her and tied a sash
draping from her left shoulder to a stole hanging from the groom’s
shoulder. Then the pundit
ordered her to lead the first six
of seven pheras,
or sacred perambulations, around the havan.
Sheetal
crushed the carpet under her toes as the weight of her golden anklets
weighed her down. Her red ghaghra—a
full-length embroidered skirt, with a matching blouse and dupatta—ran
past her toes, ensnaring her in a cocoon of fabric. She moved
forward, one inch at a time, her ghaghra
dragging behind in a river of red silk.
A
dream. This was just a dream.
After
completing six of the seven pheras,
Sheetal took her place behind the groom, pausing midway to catch a
glimpse of his face through the slits of mogra
flowers.
A
pair of empty sockets, where the stranger’s eyes should have been,
was all Sheetal could see.
A
dream. This was just a dream, she assured herself. The smoke was
rising higher and thicker. It was no longer clouds of smoke but walls
of soot billowing out from under the canopy and smothering her.
Breathe. She couldn’t breathe.
One.
There was one last phera
to render her Hindu marriage complete. Sheetal inched forward, aware
the end was near. Run. She had to run. But where to? She was
surrounded by people and cornered on all sides.
He
moved forward and she followed behind him. She was halfway around the
fire, inches away from losing the freedom she cherished. It was now
or never.
Now.
Sheetal
clutched the sides of her A-line ghaghra,
and just before the last step, the one that would bind her to this
devil forever, she stepped into the fire.
Her
arms stung with the prick of a thousand needles. The bed of burning
coals singed her feet. The gold on her hands melted and dropped with
patches of her skin to sizzle in the fire.
Sheetal
screamed. The stench of burning skin and bubbling blood filled her
nostrils. She inhaled, and smoke filled her lungs. This couldn’t be
happening.
This
was real. This was happening. She was burning. She was on fire.
She
was the fire.
“Sheetal!
Sheetal!” Her mother reached out, her cries soaring above an ocean
of panic-stricken people.
Men
ran back and forth. Women, with sapphire necklaces slithering around
their necks, used ruby-red crusted fingers to cover the eyes of
innocent children.
“Bachao!
Bachao!”
Rana Prasad screamed loudly. But no one could save what was beyond
help.
The
dream had Sheetal tossing and turning all night. Was this a warning
that if she went through with tomorrow’s wedding to Sanjeet
Dhanraj, she would never get out of her marriage alive?”
About
the Author:
Anju was
born in India but grew up in Hong Kong. Her Indian upbringing and
British education worked together to strongly influence her writing.
Anju’s
fiction explores how the distinct mindsets and traditions of
different cultures permanently shape people’s values, thinking, and
behavior patterns—for both good and evil—despite the “leveling”
effects of 21st century communications and travel.
Anju
earned a Bachelors degree in English Literature in India and a
teaching degree in the United Kingdom. She has also studied creative
writing.
Anju has
lived in Singapore, Australia, India, New Jersey and Connecticut. She
now makes her home in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband and two
kids. Anju is a columnist for a multicultural magazine in the USA.
She is also an avid guest blogger, who loves to share her experiences
in health and fitness, food, self-empowerment and great fiction
reads.
Duty and
Desire is her first novel.
Visit
Anju at www.anjugattani.com
Find
the Author:
Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I really want to read this book. The post is making me want to read more. As a new Follower,I like your Blog.Awesome!
ReplyDeleteCyndee Thomas
cyndee(dot)thomas0(at)gmail(dot)com
I hope you get a chance to read this book and enjoy it. And thanks for liking my blog. :)
DeleteI didn't hear about this book or writer before, but it sound interesting. Added to Mount TBR :)
ReplyDeleteMy TBR shelf on goodreads isn't too big (although 950 books is still a lot), but in my head, it's huge!
DeleteAnd I thought that my TBR with 500 is huge. :D Although I have only first books in series added, if I added all books in series that I plan to read, it would probably be much much bigger. :D
DeleteHi Natasha,
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting me and my debut novel on your site. I hope your readers enjoy the read of DUTY AND DESIRE, and I appreciate you sharing the journey of the debut, and many more books to follow!
Regards
Anju
I'm always glad to help authors. :)
DeleteHi Cyndee and Dragana,
ReplyDeleteThanks for hopping on over. I'm so glad you enjoyed the read... this is just an inkling of what's to come!
Regards
Anju