People say age is just a number and rightly so. Teresa Sabu at 15 has just got her first book “The Gutsy Escape” published.
A thrilling plot revolving around kidnapping, it is about two friends — Katie and Nikkita, who dare to escape but again fall into serious trouble. As they juggle with the problems, tough time tests their bond of friendship too.
“Before ‘The Gutsy Escape', I was working on a horror novel. But I could not complete it somehow. Then I started writing this story. It is pure fiction but I can see the characters in front of me,” says Teresa. The young author Teresa Sabu has grown up in Kerala, Punjab, Kashmir, Delhi and Kolkata.
She lives with her parents and little sister in Kerala. Explaining the myriad experiences that fuelled her thought process, Teresa says, “I have met different people of diverse cultures. I have experienced different flavours of friendship. All this helped me to build the plot and characters.”
The fiction has been written in epistolary style which very beautifully gives insights into the characters' mind. “I love writing diaries and I think every child does. So I thought children will enjoy reading it in this form,” explains Teresa adding that though “The Gutsy Escape” is a thrilling kidnap story, at its core is the story of friendship. But someone who has so deeply dug out the bonds of friendship, surprisingly has no best friend. She clarifies, “I think friendship is a very tight bond and it can never break. Since I have grown up in different places, I have many friends but no best friend.”
In the story almost every character has a nickname, even the diary has one. “I enjoy giving nicknames. When I was small, people used to call me with various names. One of my friends even call me Gitsy,” she laughs.
The comment of the author Ruskin Bond glitters on the cover page of the fiction. She excitedly says, “My favourite author is Ruskin Bond. I love his stories. I was so happy when he read my story and commented on it.” Teresa began writing at the age of eight. Apart from writing she enjoys shopping and watching cartoons with her sister. Currently she is studying Science and aspires to become a paediatrician and a passionate writer. “Right now I am working on a murder mystery. It is in third person narration. I write stories for children of 8-12 year of age. I think they like horror and mystery stories. I hope they will love reading this one too,” she says.
