Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A story of pain, hope and an Indian family on the brink. Inspired by true events.
The Butterfly Room
What you need to know before your trail
Vikram and his two sisters have lived in the shadow of their powerful father Rohan for many years. Rohan controls and observes everything and everyone around him. Rohan and his wife, Laskshmi, live a gilded life but for Lakshmi, a gilded cage is still a cage.
She is a wife at pains to protect her children from their father’s anger. Her wrists, her bruised body a sign of the secrets she must keep as a marriage in their culture means for life.
But Lakshmi is a woman of strength and she does not want her children to follow in their father’s footsteps. There is more than one secret hiding in this family however and the pressure cooker is bubbling away, louder and louder..
Locations
Reset- England
- A: Grosvenor Square
- India
- B: Delhi
- C: The Ganges
- Pakistan
- D: Lahore
- America/USA
- E: CO - Breckenridge
Travel Guide
This is a book not so much of setting but of a family in turmoil, gathered at a funeral in the UK. The family is Indian and what follows is a journey which takes the reader through Delhi, Punjab and Lahore and even to the ski slopes of Colorado.
But the real story is within one family, a family whose pain and insight transcends any borders, cultural or otherwise.
There are many insights into the Indian culture, sense of propriety and duty but also the wish for freedom and independence. The Indian words flutter through the text like on the wings of the butterfly itself.
Inspired by the recent efforts of the Joyful Heart Foundation’s NO MORE campaign and an existing relationship with InterAct to help raise awareness around domestic violence and LGBTI rights, proceeds from this book will be donated to Refuge the UK’s largest provider of specialist domestic violence services as well as Southall Black Sisters, Stonewall.
Booktrailer Review
Clare: @thebooktrailer
This book is hard hitting I’m not going to lie. What makes it more shocking is that it’s based on real life an the author has written it in order to shine a light on major issues of domestic violence LGBT discrimination and sexual abuse. Within an indian culture, a family living in the UK, this puts a unique spin on the subjects and the cultural angle of how these issues are dealt with and viewed so that was really something to get my teeth in to.
In some ways the cultural aspect is by the by, it’s the horrific realisation that a family can be going through these issues and more in plain sight, and that pride shame and so many other conflicting emotions are preventing them from speaking out.This novel is not just a book highlighting ‘issues’ however as there is no clear cut story here. The father’s past, his business dealings and the ripples of actions in the past coming to shore many decades later.
I enjoyed the Indian references and words in particular which are dotted throughout the text. There’s no dictionary but you can get the meaning clearly from the context and that makes this all the more effective.
It’s not a cheery novel by any means but it’s a story to make you realise that no matter who or what you are, which ever God you pray to, where ever you’re from, tragedy has the same shocking appearance.
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Butterfly Room
Guide: Saurav Dutt Destination: London, India, Pakistan Departure Time : 2000s
Twitter: h@sd_saurav Website: sauravdutt.com/blog
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