My Review of "Rani of Rampur" by Suneeta Misra

“Rani of Rampur” by Suneeta Misra

“Rani of Rampur” by Suneeta Misra is a well written story chronicling the lives and relationships of two very different sides of an Indian family, trying to reconnect after many years. The family was torn apart many years before when the eldest sister chose to flee rather than go through with an arranged marriage. Her father disowned her and married his younger daughter to the wealthy and powerful politician instead. The main characters are introduced when, after many years, the wealthy sister from the country sends a letter to her impoverished sibling in the city. She is requesting the presence of her eldest niece, an aspiring reporter named Rani, to help with planning an extravagant wedding for her step-son. To the poor side of the family it seems suspicious that the wealthy and privileged matriarch with several grown children of her own would need any assistance from one of them. In spite of this they seize on the opportunity to bring the two sides of the family together once more and send their daughter to the countryside to help with the wedding. Once she arrives, Rani finds that there is much more going on under the surface of the sprawling country estate than it would seem at first. She enters a world of corrupt politicians exploiting the poor while building their empires on prostitution, bribery, drugs and murder. Rani struggles to stay clean of it all while people, both rich and poor, confess their misdeeds to her in an effort to win her over to their side. It all comes to a head in the end as everyone’s darkest secrets are thrust violently into the light and they all embark down a path from which there is no turning back.
Suneeta Misra uses what some might consider a simple style of writing, similar to authors such as Rudyard Kipling, to take the reader on a very enjoyable journey. Ms. Misra does an excellent job of seamlessly weaving together the characters, the story and the country of India. She addresses many social, political and economic issues, but does it in a way that, instead of seeming boring or preachy, actually adds to the richness of the story and draws the reader further into the world she has created. Although this is not the type of story that I normally read, I am very glad that it was recommended it to me. “Rani of Rampur” is a well written book that seems to have something for everyone. Within it’s pages the reader will discover murder, forbidden love, political corruption, greed, power struggles, and some good old fashioned good and evil. Ms. Misra does an extremely good job developing her characters in a way that pulls the reader into their lives and makes you feel like you are there witnessing the events first hand. I normally pride myself on being able to see what is going to happen in a book or movie at the very beginning, but I have to admit that I was quite surprised by many of the events that take place toward the end of the story. This is Ms. Mira’s first novel and the first of her works that I have read, but I will definitely be purchasing her other works. I genuinely enjoyed this story and strongly encourage others to purchase it so that they may enjoy it too.