Book Review: “To My Grandchild, With Love” by Roma Gupta Sinha

It’s that time of year when budding writers, having worked hard through the A to Z Challenge, finally reap their rewards with the publication of their ebooks in the Blogchatter EBook Carnival.

Though I haven’t published an ebook this year, my story “The Turmoil Within” has been published as part of an anthology called “The Woman That I Am”. You can download this ode to womanhood here. I will be sharing a few ebook reviews on my blog in the coming days as well.

Today I’m sharing my thoughts on veteran author Roma Gupta Sinha’s ebook “To My Grandchild, With Love: 26 Soulful Letters on Covid-19 Times”. Read on to know why you should read this book:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Roma Gupta Sinha is an acclaimed writer on women empowerment, who focusses on equality of women and fighting for their rights and liberation. She has many awards to her name, including the prestigious “Woman of the Year” in 2015 and “Planet’s Pride Award” in 2018. RCA (Roma’s Communication Academy) is her entrepreneurial venture where she teaches and helps in overall personality development of six to sixty year olds. She is the author of four published books and “To My Grandchild, With Love” is her fifth offering.

THE PLOT:

Around mid-March, Roma drove over 14 hours with her husband and 11-year-old son to Vadodara in Gujarat from Delhi, as her husband needed to attend to important business interests there. It was meant to be a short trip, and they prepared solely for that. However, as the Prime Minister imposed a nationwide lockdown, Roma and her family found themselves stuck in a new place for an indefinite duration.

Indomitable as ever, she decided to chronicle her struggles in this strange situation for posterity, in the form of touching letters to her future grandchildren.

THE COMMENTARY:

Extraordinary situations such as the coronavirus crisis, test a person’s mettle to the core. Roma found herself in an unprecedented situation, for which she was quite unprepared. Her tenacity to beat the odds shines through in every letter she has penned, while imparting a valuable life lesson to her future kin.

The premature and ill-planned lockdown imposed by our government was hard on everyone, especially unhappy migrants who trudged back to their villages in thousands. However, the reader will find it easy to connect with Roma on the everyday and seemingly commonplace struggles, that were nevertheless taxing on her family.

She speaks candidly of her peculiar problems, the struggles emerging from her lack of cooking skills, the difficulty of finding eggs and other basic items in a strictly vegetarian town, the challenges faced by her son adapting to home-schooling, among others.

What makes the biggest impression on the reader, however, is her outspoken positivity despite what she may have been feeling inside. She beautifully touches on her strengthened connection with nature, her gratitude for the frontline workers, as well as bonding with her husband and son who would help her with the household chores.

Each letter focuses on a particular aspect of life in lockdown, but also imparts a moral lesson aimed at the younger generation. After all, the point of recording history is to teach its lessons so they are not repeated.

Her conversational style is easy to read and engaging, and apart from the occasional typo, I can’t fault her writing skills.

It was a pleasure to see the few photos she included, and I wished she had included more!

THE VERDICT:

Roma Gupta Sinha’s “To My Grandchild, With Love: 26 Soulful Letters on Covid-19 Times” is a sentimental book, recording a personal story of hope and survival in difficult times. I feel that it will appeal to people just emerging from the lockdown. You will identify with her experiences, and may feel compelled to share it with your children and grandchildren, so they can enjoy the benefit of her wisdom.

Download Roma Gupta Sinha’s “To My Grandchild, With Love: 26 Soulful Letters From Covid-19 Times” here.

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