The Storyteller’s Secret: A Novel by Sejal Badani

If you happen to like stories and believe in the power of storytelling, you will love Sejal Bedani’s The Storyteller’s Secret about Jaya, a thirty-something New York journalist who boards a plane to India to discover her family’s roots in a quest to heal herself.

She has recently miscarried for the third time, and after her husband leaves her for another woman, she decides to visit her grandfather whom she had never met, before he dies. She arrives too late, but meets Ravi, a loyal servant at her grandfather’s now empty village house.

From Ravi she learns about her grandmother Amisha’s storytelling skills and details of her fascinating and heart-breaking life dating back to the British occupation during the 1930s and the strained relationships between the British invaders and Indians.

It is the unraveling of the secrets that lies at the centre of the theme and how the discovery of buried truths can bring generations closer together. Jaja discovers that Amisha was a writer and student at a time when it was highly improper for women to receive an education, and it is this rebelliousness that really draws Jaja closer to her kin.

Although it is a novel, the story is based on the life of the writer’s grandmother in British India. The Storyteller’s Secret explores Indian culture in a rich and entertaining way. Issues such as the discrimination faced by the so-called ‘Untouchables’ or Dalits, and women, are well captured, offering both insight and social comment on gender roles and the caste system.

I was fascinated by the Indian way of life, their customs, religion and traditions and how, for instance, young brides are generally seldom treated much better than servants by their mothers in law. Restricted by traditional family rules, women are basically seen but not heard, and are denied all manner of self expression. Jaya finds that she can truly relate to Amisha through their similar experiences defined by their defiant natures, and their need to move beyond the restraints placed on them by society.

But, for me, it is the storytelling in the book and the way in which Ravi, himself an Untouchable, relates his employer and friend Amisha’s resilience, struggles, secret love, and tragic end that make it a memorable read. It is through Amisha’s storytelling and her secret that Jaya discovers who she really is.

The way in which she pieces her grandmother’s story together is thrilling and builds up to an interesting conclusion. Don’t miss it.