Rani, a young journalist, visits her mother’s native village Rampur, to reconnect with her estranged aunt’s family. Beneath the peaceful façade of the rural landscape, lies political intrigue, danger, and even murder. Can Rani uncover the dark secrets that lie hidden in her ancestral home in time to save those dear to her?
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Rani of Rampur - Book Review December 30, 2012
By August
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Rani of Rampur is a well written debut novel by Suneeta Misra. I liked the way Ms. Misra has visualized the story. The characters come alive as the story is played out in the village of Rampur. We see this happen mostly through the eyes of Rani, a poor but educated city girl from Bareilly. The references to the politics of India, land laws, and women's empowerment come through in the story, and we understand that these subject areas are where Ms. Misra's heart lies. Waiting to see what she will be penning down next!
Comment |
5.0 out of 5 stars Rani of Rampur January 1, 2013
By Chetan
Format:Kindle Edition
Its an interesting book set in India which has a strong girl character. Fast paced book and fun to read.
From the Back Cover
Synopsis of Rani of Rampur
Rani is a journalist in a small local newspaper in Bareilly, India. Besides her schoolteacher father, who is also the neighborhood poet and drunk, her family includes two sisters and a mother, Shakuntala, who has a past history of her own. The mother had run away from a small village, Rampur, in India, rebelling against a powerful father, who was forcing her to marry an ambitious and morally dubious suitor, Vir Singh. She leaves behind her only other sister, Savitri, who ends up marrying the jilted man. Besides being unethical, this son-in-law also had a wealthy first wife, who died in questionable circumstances, leaving behind a traumatized young son called Durlabh.
In the years that Shakuntala is away from Rampur, Vir Singh inherits both the wealth and the political legacy her father leaves behind after his death. Vir also rises in power and becomes a Member of Parliament from the dominant national party. His eldest son, Durlabh, from his first wife, is now engaged to the daughter of the Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh. This will end up solidifying Vir Singh's position both in the party and the State.
Twenty-five years after being disowned by her family, Shakuntala receives a letter from her sister, Savitri. Rani has been invited by her aunt to come to Rampur to help in the preparations for the forthcoming marriage. "I am unwell," says Savitri, "and cannot do this by myself." As enticement, she also adds that this will soften Vir Singh and improve relations between the two families for the future.
Shakuntala takes this invitation as an opportunity for her daughter to get details and photographs of the estate, so they can lay claim to her share. The Supreme Court of India, she says, now allows daughters an equal share in inherited family property.
With curiosity and a sense of purpose, Rani sets forth on the journey to Rampur, where she hopes, if nothing else, she will at least get a good story for her newspaper. She meets her three unfriendly cousins and the long suffering Durlabh, who seems incapable of standing up to anybody. The Aunt seems to have her own reasons for inviting Rani, which might just call for seducing Durlabh away from his powerfully connected fiancée in order to clear the way for her own wastrel son, Vijay. Meanwhile, the daughter of the house, Anjali, is playing a dangerous game in consorting with a lower caste boy from the village, who is the son of a political rival of Vir Singh. The youngest son, Roop, is also playing with fire when he begins to pursue the angry bastard of Vir Singh, who is born of the village courtesan clever enough to have contrived a good education for her son.
In this dangerous household where she witnesses Vir Singh commit murder, Rani navigates her way to keep herself, and others she hold dear, safe. Will Rani achieve her goal of securing her mother's share of the ancestral property and bring the two families together? Will she stop her Uncle from wantonly destroying the lives of others, and get a scoop for her newspaper?
Read the book to find out what happens!
Rani is a journalist in a small local newspaper in Bareilly, India. Besides her schoolteacher father, who is also the neighborhood poet and drunk, her family includes two sisters and a mother, Shakuntala, who has a past history of her own. The mother had run away from a small village, Rampur, in India, rebelling against a powerful father, who was forcing her to marry an ambitious and morally dubious suitor, Vir Singh. She leaves behind her only other sister, Savitri, who ends up marrying the jilted man. Besides being unethical, this son-in-law also had a wealthy first wife, who died in questionable circumstances, leaving behind a traumatized young son called Durlabh.
In the years that Shakuntala is away from Rampur, Vir Singh inherits both the wealth and the political legacy her father leaves behind after his death. Vir also rises in power and becomes a Member of Parliament from the dominant national party. His eldest son, Durlabh, from his first wife, is now engaged to the daughter of the Chief Minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh. This will end up solidifying Vir Singh's position both in the party and the State.
Twenty-five years after being disowned by her family, Shakuntala receives a letter from her sister, Savitri. Rani has been invited by her aunt to come to Rampur to help in the preparations for the forthcoming marriage. "I am unwell," says Savitri, "and cannot do this by myself." As enticement, she also adds that this will soften Vir Singh and improve relations between the two families for the future.
Shakuntala takes this invitation as an opportunity for her daughter to get details and photographs of the estate, so they can lay claim to her share. The Supreme Court of India, she says, now allows daughters an equal share in inherited family property.
With curiosity and a sense of purpose, Rani sets forth on the journey to Rampur, where she hopes, if nothing else, she will at least get a good story for her newspaper. She meets her three unfriendly cousins and the long suffering Durlabh, who seems incapable of standing up to anybody. The Aunt seems to have her own reasons for inviting Rani, which might just call for seducing Durlabh away from his powerfully connected fiancée in order to clear the way for her own wastrel son, Vijay. Meanwhile, the daughter of the house, Anjali, is playing a dangerous game in consorting with a lower caste boy from the village, who is the son of a political rival of Vir Singh. The youngest son, Roop, is also playing with fire when he begins to pursue the angry bastard of Vir Singh, who is born of the village courtesan clever enough to have contrived a good education for her son.
In this dangerous household where she witnesses Vir Singh commit murder, Rani navigates her way to keep herself, and others she hold dear, safe. Will Rani achieve her goal of securing her mother's share of the ancestral property and bring the two families together? Will she stop her Uncle from wantonly destroying the lives of others, and get a scoop for her newspaper?
Read the book to find out what happens!
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By August
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Rani of Rampur is a well written debut novel by Suneeta Misra. I liked the way Ms. Misra has visualized the story. The characters come alive as the story is played out in the village of Rampur. We see this happen mostly through the eyes of Rani, a poor but educated city girl from Bareilly. The references to the politics of India, land laws, and women's empowerment come through in the story, and we understand that these subject areas are where Ms. Misra's heart lies. Waiting to see what she will be penning down next!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By Scott
Format:Kindle Edition
Rani of Rampur is an approximately 200-page mystery/drama depicting fictional characters, but heavily weighted in factual aspects of Indian culture and society. I received this book for free in return for providing a non-reciprocal, unbiased review. I am not one for providing detailed summaries in reviews, so I will delve directly into my thoughts (if you do desire a synopsis, one has been provided on the book's Amazon sales page).
I must say that I enjoyed the setting of this book, but I admit I may have some personal bias in that department. I studied Asian history and culture extensively in college, and though my focus was on Japan, one cannot learn certain facets of Japanese history without learning Chinese history, and one cannot experience much of western Chinese history without influence from countries such as India. I haven't immersed myself in such a setting for some time, so this book was welcome in that respect. I won't hold my own shortcomings against the author however, when I further admit that my expertise with names and pronounciation also lies further east than India, so I did have a trivial amount of trouble keeping characters straight in this book (which did not dissuade me from enjoying it).
Rani of Rampur is essentially a young woman's struggle against classic, "bad guy" evil on the cusp of a society in a state of social change. Misra does a commendable job of weaving together both sources of antagonism -- there's murder most foul for Rani to deal with, while at the same time a clashing of progressive versus traditional culture. Despite the length, Misra takes her time weaving a careful plot, as well as developing the main character into somebody I felt I could relate to. I can't stress enough how important something like this is, at least to me. If I am not given the opportunity to care about characters in a story, then it won't matter to me what happens to them and overall I will find a read to be boring. That was not the case, here. I was really able to get into Rani's feelings and thinking. It's possible some may think the story ponderous at times, but I appreciated a well-rounded tale.
I have seen this book classified as a mystery. I can see that to a point, but I thought of it as more of a drama. There's definitely a mystery there to be enjoyed, but I felt that the cultural aspects of the book were more of a centralized theme.
I can say that Rani of Rampur felt "real" to me. Most everything in this book I can see happening in real life one way or another -- I didn't have any "oh c'mon, that's stretching it" moments. The book is well written and edited to the point that it is clearly not just a fly-by-night "I wanted to write a book" thing. Misra is a serious author, with a title such as this under her belt.
If I were to say anything negative about this book, it would be that a reader who has little to no interest in the cultural aspects of the book might not have enough to go on with just the mystery aspects to enjoy themselves. Misra does an fine job of keeping things clear and understandable (at least she did for me), but if familial power struggles with an ethnic feel aren't your cup of tea, you might have a tough time here. All in all, that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. Rani of Rampur is a unique tale that I would recommend to a fiction reader that also wants to learn a few things about another culture.
I must say that I enjoyed the setting of this book, but I admit I may have some personal bias in that department. I studied Asian history and culture extensively in college, and though my focus was on Japan, one cannot learn certain facets of Japanese history without learning Chinese history, and one cannot experience much of western Chinese history without influence from countries such as India. I haven't immersed myself in such a setting for some time, so this book was welcome in that respect. I won't hold my own shortcomings against the author however, when I further admit that my expertise with names and pronounciation also lies further east than India, so I did have a trivial amount of trouble keeping characters straight in this book (which did not dissuade me from enjoying it).
Rani of Rampur is essentially a young woman's struggle against classic, "bad guy" evil on the cusp of a society in a state of social change. Misra does a commendable job of weaving together both sources of antagonism -- there's murder most foul for Rani to deal with, while at the same time a clashing of progressive versus traditional culture. Despite the length, Misra takes her time weaving a careful plot, as well as developing the main character into somebody I felt I could relate to. I can't stress enough how important something like this is, at least to me. If I am not given the opportunity to care about characters in a story, then it won't matter to me what happens to them and overall I will find a read to be boring. That was not the case, here. I was really able to get into Rani's feelings and thinking. It's possible some may think the story ponderous at times, but I appreciated a well-rounded tale.
I have seen this book classified as a mystery. I can see that to a point, but I thought of it as more of a drama. There's definitely a mystery there to be enjoyed, but I felt that the cultural aspects of the book were more of a centralized theme.
I can say that Rani of Rampur felt "real" to me. Most everything in this book I can see happening in real life one way or another -- I didn't have any "oh c'mon, that's stretching it" moments. The book is well written and edited to the point that it is clearly not just a fly-by-night "I wanted to write a book" thing. Misra is a serious author, with a title such as this under her belt.
If I were to say anything negative about this book, it would be that a reader who has little to no interest in the cultural aspects of the book might not have enough to go on with just the mystery aspects to enjoy themselves. Misra does an fine job of keeping things clear and understandable (at least she did for me), but if familial power struggles with an ethnic feel aren't your cup of tea, you might have a tough time here. All in all, that didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. Rani of Rampur is a unique tale that I would recommend to a fiction reader that also wants to learn a few things about another culture.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
Loved it! This book was recommended to me and I had my reservations, I tend to go for more straight forward action adventures, but it won me over. It was, for me, a slow start. The narrative is a little dense at the beginning, but it does such a great job of painting some very unique and interesting characters. Just as I felt the story was beginning to wander the plot takes an absolutely Agatha Christie inspired twist and suddenly we're in a full blown mystery. This was a very satisfying read that took me to cultures I had never experienced, a classic mystery wrapped in a nice rich slice of Indian life.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fast Pace well written
Congratulations to Suneeta Misra for writing a good story. The story is built steadily and takes sudden turns to solve the mystery in the last couple of chapters. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dreamer
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good story that takes the reader on an interesting adventure!
"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... Read more
"Rani of Rampur" by Suneeta Misra is a well written story chronicling the lives and relationships of two very different sides of an... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J.E. Barrett
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Journey to India
I love to travel, but between work, kids and a perpetually strapped bank account, there are some areas of the world that I can only visit vicariously. Read more
Published 2 months ago by CW
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting
When I agreed to review this book, I knew it was outside my normal reading list. I've never been to India and don't know all that much about it, and I learned a lot about the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Bobby Craton
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable story
I've always considered myself to be a student of cultures and Rani of Rampur didn't disappoint. Reading the book, I felt almost as though I was being told a story orally by a... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Willard M. Wilson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rani of Rampur
Really enjoyed reading the book. Very interesting story and well written. Rani is very brave to go live in a house like that and to have the courage to investigate and expose the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by reader1
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exciting and vivid story!
Suneeta Misra proves herself to be a very detail oriented writer with this exciting short novel! It reads as a script for a play almost, and most of the details are described so... Read more
Published 3 months ago by vicky
3.0 out of 5 stars
Picked it up in a writer forum
I think I was on the Goodreads site. "Get my book. Free for the next 24 hours." It wasn't. Bought it anyway. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Thomas J. Ba Ross
3.0 out of 5 stars
Rani's Review
Rani of Rampur begins with a murder but that's not the mystery.
It's an open secret that Vir Singh killed his first wife. That's why Rani's mother refused to marry him. Read more
It's an open secret that Vir Singh killed his first wife. That's why Rani's mother refused to marry him. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kathy
5.0 out of 5 stars
Take me to India
This book took me to a place I have never been (India), which is what is so good about it. The story centers on, Rani, a young female journalist working for a Hindi newspaper. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Enrico
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More About the Author
I am a lifelong teacher, having taught in the Maryland school district for the last 15 years. I have also made documentaries and short films, most recently Tinka Tinka: A Dream of Education in Modern India. In my spare time, I love to read mysteries, watch movies, and travel. Look out for my next book about an autistic girl, who overcomes challenges to save her family, and in the process solves a murder.
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