Title : True Treasure

Author : Sudha Vishwanath

Publisher : Room9 Publications

Genre : Fiction

This novel is woven through the lives of four women who come from different families. It is an eye opener against the societal issues of gender bias, education, marriage and gender dysphoria. 

Suman who loved to study realises that revealing her puberty to her grandmother would result in her studies getting stopped. Advised by her mother, Suman decides to hide it from her grandmother. Upon clearing her tenth exams, Suman is forced to stop studying. Her mother Rukhmabai, who wanted her to succeed in life and not get wound up in the strings of marriage and children, decides to encourage her to learn stitching. 

Trishna, a chirpy girl who was very close to her grandmother, dreams to become an ‘Afsar’ just like how her grandmother has envisioned for her. With the support of her father and against her mother’s wishes Trishna learns coding hoping to land up in a good job.

Ratna, the daughter of Leela, is detested by her own grandmother just because of her gender. With the support from her mother Leela  and father Damodar, Ratna grows up to be a responsible child who was ready to give up for the sake of her siblings. At one juncture, she is forced to move to Mumbai, courtesy her uncle.

Mrithunjay, our fourth protagonist, fights a battle of identifying his true self with only his mother as his strong support. His character shapes up against all the societal odds.

All four of them dream of something but fate has something else in store for them. Fate brings them to the City of Dreams : Mumbai and what happens next is the climax of the novel where all four identify that they are the true treasures who are shaped by their grit and resilience. 

The author, Sudha has used simple language to develop her characters. Each chapter takes us through the growth of every character and it has been arranged really well.

Overall, the novel is a good and breezy read.