Book Review: Hidden Husband (Shikha Kaul)

Title: Hidden Husband Author: Shikha Kaul Genre: Fiction/Contemporary Publisher: Gargi Publishers Chapters: NA Pages: 239 Price: INR 195.00 ISBN: 978-93-84382-07-0 Rating: 4.0/5.0 Book Review I would always tell him, “The earth is round. If you stand at the South Pole, it doesn’t mean you are upside down, neither are you on top of the world at the North Pole. You will still remain the same and the earth treats you no differently. So stay grounded. Your places can change, and so can time.” The above paragraph is a small extract taken from the book Hidden Husband that is penned down by Author Shikha Kaul, which is a contemporary romantic fiction. I believe, this extract is enough to describe the entire philosophy of the book. The reader will definitely have the similar feeling while go through the epilogue. The story of Hidden Husband revolves around the three urban cities of India namely Gurgaon, Delhi and Ranchi and finally ends in London, UK. There are three main characters in the novel namely Aisha, Raghav and Sameer. The other supporting characters carved by the author are Aisha’s best friend Piyali, her parents, Raghav’s family, Sameer’s family & friends (in London) and Sachin, a common friend of Aisha and Raghav. The fiction was basically written to hammer on the still prevailing centuries old deep-rooted traditional customs in India. The customs and beliefs in some of the remote areas are still based on cast and creed and they still overrule and overshadow our modern society in the present scientific era. The author has tried to build a love story using the mindset of two distinct ideologies that exists in two different corners of the country. It’s a saga of the struggle between love and the social customs where latter still dominates the former. I think it will not be suitable elaborate about the plot in this review because the author has written the story that progress in a vernacular linear fashion. There are no such instances that proffer a high time climax or introduce a distressing crisis to the reader. Although the author had tried her level best to portray the crisis in her own terms. I could say that the avid fiction readers who are habitual reading genres like crime, suspense or thriller etc. might not get carried away with such chubby theme. It is evident that the author has carved a story that is more close to her heart and hence she couldn’t find any scope to adorn the story-line with the high doze of imaginary twists. But, a fiction, after all is a fiction and building a plot, the treatment of characters and resolution of the crisis is all depends upon the author and his imagination. The author can never be blamed for what he or she has presented to his readers. Yet, there is one point I would like to elaborate here that, one must always consider his target readers while writing a fiction. Here, in this case, I can definitely say that, since the author is a female and the protagonist of Hidden Husband is also a female. Hence, it would definitely score a high-five from the female readers. But, on the contrary, I did not mean to say that it would disappoint the male readers. Apart from the story what I liked the most in the book is the way of presentation of content. She has used an easy vocabulary with a lucid flow that didn’t let the reader distracted. And at the end, I would like to add that the way she has ended the story offers a feel if she has tried to introduce a moment of a cliffhanger to the readers. The last instance in the epilogue in the fiction left the readers in a state of amusement. But, I don’t think that the incident would really ignite a spark in either’s after a generation-long gap. Still, let’s do not giveaway the hope and wait for the sequel of Hidden Husband. It is a good first attempt indeed and I hope she would certainly succeed in grabbing huge crowd with her upcoming books.]]>