The Book Quill

Message in a Bottle is a hitch-hike through the paradigms of love, grief and hope. It is a heart wrenching story about two people who both have lost the love of their lives in one way or the other. Theresa, a newspaper columnist is on a vacation along the seaside when she unexpectedly finds a bottle with a scrolled up letter in it alongside the shore. Interesting as it gets, it is addressed to someone named Catherine. The letter is poured with emotions about losing her and immense love for her, by a person named Garret. This puts Theresa into an inquisitive speculation, about who these people are and what is the story behind the letter. She somehow finds Garrett, and tells her about her spree which sort of shocks him, as he always expected that those bottles will never be found by anybody. This begins a whole new romantic spree altogether between the two of them, and they get closer. Theresa and Garrett, both are at very different crossroads of lives but at a same sort of junction....

Only Time Will Tell is the first book in the Jeffrey Archer Clifton Chronicles. The book, a historical fiction, is as enchanting as the title. The story starts with a small boy named Harry destined to follow his uncle’s and father’s footsteps and work in the docks, but future has different things bundled up for him. There is a certain air of mystery about his father all through the story. His mother is a waitress and tries her best to provide him good schooling and a better life. Harry befriends Giles in school who is the son of the owner of the shipping company. Harry has grown up thinking that his father is Arthur Clifton and died in war. Maisie, his mother knows the truth about Harry’s parentage and a few other know about how his father died, but no one tells him anything. Later he meets Emma, Gile’s younger sister and she immediately has a fonding towards him. The story is based in the early 18th century at which time England was about to go to war against Nazi’s Germany which a...

Everyone of us at some point of time have felt that strange feeling that we do not belong to this world and maybe some other world awaits us, of course the fantasy movies have only strengthen that feeling! Well this gripping book by Cook will take you to this parallel existing world under the Earth’s crust called Interterra, where genetically advanced humans live and have a very different alien world. The story starts with a group of researchers, who go on an expedition to explore an undersea volcano, and out of the blue their submarine gets sucked in and they are transported to this whole new world that exists inside the earth’s crust. There they meet these advanced humans with extraordinary technology and skills and unusual practices. They abduct them as they thought that the researchers were trying to find them. The people there are immortal hence have the right to practise euthanasia. One of the most mind-boggling things I read was that the Interterreans have sexual intercour...

The book is a reflection of the apathy and horrors one goes through to be in a star-studded industry. The story shows the true side of the limelight, the struggle to be eminent, the sacrifices one has to make, the agony one goes through and the means sometimes one has to opt to reach at the top. The story goes along with two protagonists- Jill Castle and Toby Temple. The book starts with Toby’s life from childhood, his mother’s struggle to protect him and make him a star comedian. She sends him to the city to make a name for himself, but the struggle to become a star are not easy to get through. No one recognises his talent nor like his jokes. He does small stand-ups all around and one day his life turns around when a producer named Sam recognises him and gives him a break. On the other hand Josephine is born into a poor family but grows up to be a very beautiful woman and the high class children like to mingle with her and become friends with her. As she grows up she falls for her fr...

This is one of the best stories I have read. Hosseini never fails to charm you with his bewitching magical words. The book is a reflection of redemption, guilt, sorrow and selfless loyalty. This is a story of a rich boy in Kabul named Amir who is best friends with their household servant’s son, Hassan. They share a brotherly relationship and Hassan treats Amir like his everything. Amir is a little weak and hence Hassan is always protecting him from bullies. Hassan acts like his bodyguard and worships him like anything. Amir’s father always favours Hassan and that ignites jealousy in Amir often. There is an annual kite competition in the neighbourhood and Hassan is Amir’s ‘kite runner’ as in he goes and fetches the kite Amir cuts with his own. One triumphant day, Amir wins the local kite fighting tournament and finally earns Baba's(his father) praise. Hassan runs for the last cut kite, a great trophy, saying to Amir, "For you, a thousand times over." He encounters one of...

How would you feel if one of your loved ones disappear without a trace and you still receive some unique gift that they give you every year even after their disappearance? Scary isn’t it? The assumptions of what really happened to the person can drive one mad to insanity, and the souvenir reaching you once a year can give anyone sleepless nights. That’s what happens to the poor Henrik Vanger who has been trying to find what happened to his brother’s daughter for 36 years without any success. Harriet Vanger, at the age of 17 disappears from the face of the earth and no matter what resources his uncle uses, he is unable to find her. He feels that the killer, if she has been murdered is sending him the gifts to mock him. After 36 years of agony, he hires an infamous journalist who has been sentenced for libel to try to solve the mystery of his niece’s disappearance. Thus starts a thriller journey when new evidences turn up, and the story altogether takes a new turn. The journalist, Mikae...

This book completely welled up my eyes, and in the last ten years of my reading almost like two or three books have done that. This book explores the life of women in Afghanistan during the 20th century, and deeply roots out the extremity of torture and suffering women have to go through each day of their lives. This very powerful book showcases the endearing survival of women in the extreme of situations and still stand strong and powerful. The story revolves around two main characters Mariam and Laila. There is a generation gap between the two, but somehow their futures are intertwined as they get married to a single man, named Rasheed. He is cruel, torturous and everything one can think of a man in the most horrible ways. Mariam is an illegitimate child of a very rich man, who is excluded and lives outside the city with his mother. After her mother commits suicide, her father marries her off to a shoemaker who is 30 years older to her and her never ending agony starts. Rasheed i...