Author Varsha Dixit is back with a new novel Wrong Means Right End (Rupa Publications, Rs. 140), a sequel to the national bestseller Right Fit Wrong Shoe . A book intended for adolescents but finding a spot in the hearts of adults too, the book takes the story of Sneha and her best friend Nandini forward.
Now a divorced, working mother, Sneha seems content to live a life without men, while she combats overzealous matchmaking attempts from the incorrigible Nandini.
Disaster strikes in the form of gorgeous Nikhil, a part of Sneha’s past she would rather forget, and with him he brings Gayatri determined to break up Nandini and Aditya’s marriage.
Though a seemingly tried and tested plot, the book is absorbing, daring, and above all, entertaining.
Describing where she got the inspiration for her detailed characters, Varsha says, “Being a voracious fiction reader all my life I have always been drawn to well-written, well-drawn-out characters. Characters need to seem real and authentic for readers to form a connect with. Similarly when I’m writing, I always flesh out all my characters to minute details. In fact for my main characters like Sneha, Nikhil, Nandini, and Aditya I even pen down things like the colours they like or food of their choice in my character notes.”
The book, breaking usual conventions, deals with matters of bad language and sexual chemistry in a refreshingly straightforward way. “I believe that if you write a story expecting praise or avoiding criticism then you are depriving a story of its true potential. Others’ perceptions don’t worry me, only my personal inhibitions or lack of them play a key role in shaping the story to what it becomes,” says Varsha, in response to criticism she may have received.
“I work hard on writing an engrossing book but it is completely up to the reader to take what he or she wants from my book. However I do prefer to leave my readers with hope for new beginnings and optimism,” she adds. Besides these two novels, Varsha is also the author of Xcess Baggage , India’s first vampire saga. Her previous two novels together have sold over 100,000 copies.
Letting on a bit of what is coming, Varsha says her next book will be the last part of the ‘Right and Wrong’ trilogy, with Gayatri’s story, keeping all the old characters and introducing some new ones.
Varsha can be reached on www.varshadixit.com
