The Storyteller's Secret + Giveaway
Book Title: The Storyteller's Secret by Sejal Badani
Category: Adult Fiction, 399 pages
Genre: Literary
Publisher: Lake Union
Release date: September 2018
Tour dates: June 3 to July 12, 2019
Content Rating: PG-13 (There are some non-explicit sex scenes)
Book Description:
An Amazon Charts, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller!
From the bestselling author of Trail of Broken Wings comes an epic story of the unrelenting force of love, the power of healing, and the invincible desire to dream.
Nothing prepares Jaya, a New York journalist, for the heartbreak of her third miscarriage and the slow unraveling of her marriage in its wake. Desperate to assuage her deep anguish, she decides to go to India to uncover answers to her family’s past. Intoxicated by the sights, smells, and sounds she experiences, Jaya becomes an eager student of the culture. But it is Ravi—her grandmother’s former servant and trusted confidant—who reveals the resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic fall of Jaya’s pioneering grandmother during the British occupation.
Through her courageous grandmother’s arrestingly romantic and heart-wrenching story, Jaya discovers the legacy bequeathed to her and a strength that, until now, she never knew was possible.
To read reviews, please visit Sejal Badani's page on iRead Book Tours.
My Review
Meet the Author:
A former attorney, Sejal Badani left the law to pursue writing full time.
She is a USA Today, Washington Post & Amazon Charts bestselling author, Goodreads Fiction Award Finalist and ABC/DISNEY Writing Fellowship Finalist.
Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram
Top 7 Research and Writing tip for Books Set in an Another Country
My recent novel, The Storyteller’s Secret, alternates settings between modern day and 1940’s India. Though I had not traveled to India recently, I knew how critical it was to get the setting and culture correct so I was forced to be creative. Here are some research and writing tips that I found to be helpful when writing a book set in another country.
Visit the Country if You Can. It’s a Great Excuse to Travel.
Though not always possible, visiting the country and meeting the people will give you an experience that can’t be replicated by research. The sights and smells of the country and lifestyle will permeate your senses and come alive in your story.
Speak with natives.
Talk to as many citizens of the country as you can. There are countless associations and societies that cater to individuals from specific regions of the world. Introduce yourself as a writer and explain that you are working on a story set in the country. I was touched and honored by how welcoming everyone was and how open they were to answering my questions.
Read Other Books Set in the Country.
The writer may have done research that you missed. It also gives you the opportunity to see the country through a different set of eyes. For example, India is a vast country and no one person is going to have the same experience there. I was fascinated with how many different stories I read of people in the different regions. Even though my family is from India, I learned from another source that the same exact meal is has many different names depending on the region.
Google.
Enough said?
Speak with Travel Agents.
Contact travel agencies within the country. When I explained that I was a writer in the US and wanted more information about the region, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of time a local tour guide spent with me on the phone in addition to the intricate details he shared that would have been impossible to discover only by reading.
Write Your story
Don’t feel constrained by the need to pinpoint every possible local behavior in detail. If there is a tradition or activity specific to the region or country, then definitely stay true to that; however, I realized early on that if I didn’t leave a little room for imagination then I wouldn’t be able to write the story I wanted.
Use Details to Invite Your Reader to the Country
Within the book, weave in places and factual events when appropriate to the story. Even if your novel’s setting is fictional, readers will appreciate the journey to a distant land and learning something about a foreign place. I am so grateful for the countless reviews of The Storyteller’s Secret where readers mention they feel as though they have traveled to India whilst reading the book. I even received a number of emails from readers who say they are now planning a trip there because of the story!
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My Review
Author, Sejal Badani crafts a beautiful and touching story about friendship, love, and family in The Storyteller's Secret.
While, the story may have been about Jaya learning about her grandmother's past; it was really and truly Amisha that I loved the most. Well Amisha and Ravi. Ravi was a dear friend and confidant of Amisha. I had grown just as close to him as I did Amisha.
When the story did switch to Jaya, it was in short snippets. It took me a while to warm up to Jaya. In fact, I skipped a few parts when Jaya would come up until the last several ones at the end. Speaking of the ending, it was both a happy and bittersweet ending.
Readers looking for a great book to read, should pick up a copy of this book. You will be in for a real treat.
Buy the Book:
Watch the Book Trailer:
Meet the Author:
A former attorney, Sejal Badani left the law to pursue writing full time.
She is a USA Today, Washington Post & Amazon Charts bestselling author, Goodreads Fiction Award Finalist and ABC/DISNEY Writing Fellowship Finalist.
Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram
Top 7 Research and Writing tip for Books Set in an Another Country
My recent novel, The Storyteller’s Secret, alternates settings between modern day and 1940’s India. Though I had not traveled to India recently, I knew how critical it was to get the setting and culture correct so I was forced to be creative. Here are some research and writing tips that I found to be helpful when writing a book set in another country.
Visit the Country if You Can. It’s a Great Excuse to Travel.
Though not always possible, visiting the country and meeting the people will give you an experience that can’t be replicated by research. The sights and smells of the country and lifestyle will permeate your senses and come alive in your story.
Speak with natives.
Talk to as many citizens of the country as you can. There are countless associations and societies that cater to individuals from specific regions of the world. Introduce yourself as a writer and explain that you are working on a story set in the country. I was touched and honored by how welcoming everyone was and how open they were to answering my questions.
Read Other Books Set in the Country.
The writer may have done research that you missed. It also gives you the opportunity to see the country through a different set of eyes. For example, India is a vast country and no one person is going to have the same experience there. I was fascinated with how many different stories I read of people in the different regions. Even though my family is from India, I learned from another source that the same exact meal is has many different names depending on the region.
Google.
Enough said?
Speak with Travel Agents.
Contact travel agencies within the country. When I explained that I was a writer in the US and wanted more information about the region, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of time a local tour guide spent with me on the phone in addition to the intricate details he shared that would have been impossible to discover only by reading.
Write Your story
Don’t feel constrained by the need to pinpoint every possible local behavior in detail. If there is a tradition or activity specific to the region or country, then definitely stay true to that; however, I realized early on that if I didn’t leave a little room for imagination then I wouldn’t be able to write the story I wanted.
Use Details to Invite Your Reader to the Country
Within the book, weave in places and factual events when appropriate to the story. Even if your novel’s setting is fictional, readers will appreciate the journey to a distant land and learning something about a foreign place. I am so grateful for the countless reviews of The Storyteller’s Secret where readers mention they feel as though they have traveled to India whilst reading the book. I even received a number of emails from readers who say they are now planning a trip there because of the story!
Enter the Giveaway!
Ends July 20, 2019
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