OR

Print List Price:	$12.00
Kindle Price:	$0.99 Save $11.01 (92%)
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Promotions apply when you purchase

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Fireflies in the Night: A Coming of Age Historical Novel by [Nalini Warriar]

Follow the Author

Nalini Warriar

Fireflies in the Night: A Coming of Age Historical Novel Kindle Edition

by Nalini Warriar (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.1 32 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$0.99

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$12.00

$4.95

Kindle
$0.00 Read with Kindle Unlimited to also enjoy access to over 4 million more titles $0.99 to buy
Paperback
$12.00

1 Used from $4.95 1 New from $12.00

***Winner 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards***
***Finalist Foreword Best Indie Books 2016***
*Kirkus Reviews (Starred)*
**Featured Indie Review October 2016**
**Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Indie Books 2016**
From the award winning short story writer of Blues from the Malabar Coast comes a novel about two sisters once bound by love and loyalty; a beautiful mother torn between tradition and love; a gentle and caring father who loves his girls but is caught in the middle, seduced by his wife’s sophistication. Set against the lush background of wild animals and tea estates of Assam, India, this story weaves through the 50’s and 60’s and the India-China confrontation of 1962. Assam transforms the close-knit family: the sisters are thrust apart and the sexually frustrated mother uses her powers to manipulate the father. The sisters have to come to terms that the ties that bind them are no more there.
'Warriar's richly textured and intense coming of age novel is a finely wrought family drama---' Kirkus Reviews (starred).
Book Trailer: www.facebook.com/authornaliniwarriar

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

July 4, 2016
File size

3083 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Melissa Wiesner
3,284
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Michelle Vernal
2,147
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $0.99
Ben Sharpton
104
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $4.99
Melissa Wiesner
1,371
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Melissa Wiesner
1,732
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Julia Roberts
1,221
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

Tragedy and powerful but fraying limitations on women roil an Indian family in this intense historical coming-of-age novel.

In 1957, the expectations for Indian women are pretty cut-and-dried: be a good housewife. Unfortunately, in the family of A.N Krishnan, a tax collector recently reassigned to the chilly Himalayan province of Assam as a punishment for not taking bribes, such certitudes no longer satisfy. His beautiful wife, Devi, longs for more erotic passion than the stolid Krishnan can muster; her longings inflamed by racy romance novels, she casts her gaze at a handsome British plantation manager who dances with her at parties while Krishnan fumes. As if to overcompensate for her improprieties, Devi strictly polices her two daughters: Anu, a dutiful teenager, and Kavita, an unruly, 9-year-old scamp. Warriar's (The Enemy Within, 2005, etc.) novel, told mainly through Kavita's voice, steeps readers in Indian culture, reveling in vivid descriptions of foods, landscapes, colorful fashions, and convoluted mores. It's also a subtle, gripping study of patriarchy as it blights women's lives while poisoning their relationships with one another. Kavita grows up in a world that prizes her virginity yet subjects her to constant molestation attempts by men. Meanwhile, Devi--suffocating in a loveless marriage and a generally unfulfilled life and acting out in brazen ways--is determined to impose the same hell on her daughters; indeed, she comes to see them as the main stumbling blocks to her happiness. But although Devi's an almost monstrous character, the author still manages to portray her sympathetically. Warriar's richly textured novel portrays this unraveling family with real emotional depth, showing how social pressures turn parents and children against one another.

A finely wrought family drama.---Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

About the Author

Winner of the 2002 QWF McAuslan Award for her first book, Blues from the Malabar Coast, Nalini Warriar spent her childhood in Assam and Mumbai. She worked as a molecular biologist before turning to writing .She lives in Napanee, Ontario. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01HZS28CW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Warriar Books; 2nd edition (July 4, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 4, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3083 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 320 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,764,388 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,817 in Women's Historical Fiction
- #8,321 in Historical Literary Fiction
- #138,218 in Historical Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.1 32 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Nalini Warriar

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Nalini Warriar dreamed of being a writer then forgot the dream for a bit as she went on to garner a Ph.D in Molecular Biology. While in her lab, the dream came back and hit her on the head and she’s never looked back writing through her years as a scientist. After more than a decade in cancer research, Nalini returned to the creative part of her soul and now devotes her time to dreaming up the perfect alpha male and feisty woman to appear in her books.

Her novel, Fireflies in the Night, was a Foreword Reviews Fab Award finalist and won the Next Generation Indie Book Award in 2017. Kirkus Reviews awarded Fireflies in the Night a starred review and named it Best Books of 2016. Karma’s Slow Burn, a contemporary romance will be released in February 2020. She’s working on her next romance, the first in the Crenshaw Brothers series, to be released in 2020. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5

32 global ratings

5 star		51%
4 star		28%
3 star		10%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		11%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Susan L

Fireflies in the Night by Nalini Warriar - Compelling!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 28, 2022

Verified Purchase

This coming-of-age story that takes place in India in the mid 20th century, captured my attention from the first page and only got better. It portrayed a family that underwent
a painful transition from traditional family roles to more independence, especially for women.

A family that appears to be close-knit unravels after a tragedy and the entire dynamic changes. The depth of the characters are remarkable as we watch the sisters experience an alienation that eventually allows them to figure out their own destinies.

I have always been interested in stories that take place in India. The writing was excellent. This was a five star book.

Helpful

Peri Hoskins

An Authentic Family Story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed “Fireflies in the Night: A Novel” by Nalini Warriar. This novel is described as "literary fiction". In my experience, not all novels described as such are in fact literary pieces. I was therefore pleased to find this novel is. Ms Warriar’s exploration of family relationships, and the not always positive emotions underpinning them, is more than an Indian story. It taps into a universal theme. Almost all of us, no matter what our background, grew up in a family, and we therefore have some experience of family and the bonds that hold families together.

The novel is a family story set in mid-twentieth century India. As such it reminded me of Salman Rushdie’s celebrated Booker Prize winning novel "Midnight’s Children". Ms Warriar chose 1950’s India and a little known border war with China as her setting. Similarly, Rushdie focussed on the legacy of India’s partition (and the creation of Pakistan) post 1947 as the setting for his novel. There are however significant differences. Ms Warriar’s novel is written by a woman, has a female protagonist and female main characters. The relationships between family members are central to the novel. They are explored in great detail. Rushdie’s novel is written by a man and the protagonist is a male. It explores family relationships and wider themes including the politics of the time.

As a man, I generally relate more to books written by male authors, however I found Ms Warriar’s novel held my interest from start to finish. I became more caught up in it as the story unfolded. There is a pleasing depth to the prose. The characters are well-developed and believable.

This is a very well-written authentic story about family relationships. Ms Warriar is a talented writer. I am happy to recommend “Fireflies in the Night: A Novel".

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 21, 2017

Verified Purchase

In Fireflies in the Night, is the story of a young middle-class Indian family and the transition of their lives as they are moved from city to city. The story begins in the POV of the young wife. It follows the family over a period of several years. Different characters narrates the story, but it ends in the POV of the middle daughter.
It’s an interesting story and the author did such a wonderful job in writing it that sometime the reader can smell the pungent smells and/or the complexity or simplicity of the dishes being prepared, whichever the case may be. My one problem, and that’s me, I had to constantly refer back to the previous chapters because I was sometimes confused as to who's talking, as the story is written in the first person. Great read!

Helpful

Ian

Engrossing Literary Tale Set in India

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 18, 2017

Verified Purchase

4.5 stars

An amazing book of caustic family dynamics set against the exotic backdrop of India. The author excels at world-building, bringing out the travel lit-dimension of the story and helping India itself to be a prominent character in the story. So too does she excel at creating characters that permanently get under your skin.

You won’t be turning pages a mile a minute with this one so much as savoring the feast of the senses and following the author’s slower, more considered approach to storytelling. But you’ll we swept along all the same.

Recommended for literary and chicklit readers, as well as for those who enjoy coming of age stories for adults.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Patrick

Elegant

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

Some books are exciting, some are fun. I would describe this book as elegant. Wonderful imagery, beautiful narrative and a very particular style all of its own, Fireflies in the night was for me a pleasure to read. I enjoy a good story more than anything else so top marks on that front. This is a slow burner, always building as it needs to be telling the story of a family over such a span of time. I admire the way this was achieved. If you like a wham bam thank you mam book move on. It you enjoy intelligent fiction, well written and a thoroughly enjoyable story, then this is the book for you. I really enjoyed this one.

Helpful

Larry Singleton

Fireflies in the Night by Nalini Warriar

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

I just got finished and this was a great read!!! Being unfamiliar with the cultures of China, Tibet, and India, Fireflies in the Night gave me an in-depth view of how life really is in those areas. Nalini Warriar gives a brilliant depiction of coming of age under extreme conditions and you feel like you're actually there! All of my favorite books have the ability to put you in the story and Fireflies in the Night is no exception. Don't be fooled by the slow start. The tempo picks up and doesn't stop. Keep up the great work Nalini!

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Books R Best

CURIOUS

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 17, 2017

Verified Purchase

I bought this book as I was curious to learn more about India and Indian customs. The author states this is a novel, but I suspect there is a hint of a memoir here. At the beginning I was not sure I was going to enjoy it, but a couple of chapters in, I began to care about the characters and bond with them. In the earlier part, the point of view changes several times, and I had to concentrate on who was saying/thinking what. Later on most of the story is told from Kativa’s point of view, the second daughter and the last to live at home. The only other small problem I had was the names, nearly all of them began with A, including the Indian words for mother and father. It took a while to sort out who was who. Once I connected with this book I was sold. The pace was great, the descriptions never too much or too little and in places the tension is palpable. Well worth five stars and I will be reading more from this author.

JP Wright

a delicate, luminous flower slowly opening

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Several years in the life of a family are presented here in a series of memories, some sharp, some dreamlike. The writing is often beautiful, but never heavy; the characters are carefully and patiently followed over years, and their actions and motivations are always clear and justified. The development of the second child, Kavita, who carries the burden of the story, is completely convincing.
It is a joy to read a work in which the author has allowed time for us to understand the time and the characters, instead of rushing them on in the service of a story: in this case, the characters are the story.
I was concerned at first that the first person present tense narration would become wearing rather quickly: in other author's hands it tends to become choppy, obvious and boring. I need not have worried, as here it works very well (aside from a few glitches where the author gets herself trapped between present and future), and the sensation of flow from scene to scene, from year to year is delightful.
As well as those few glitches in tense, there are a some awkward phrases that break the spell; but these are far fewer than the clear, fine images provided. I do not know whether there is an autobiographical element here, but the reader is certainly left with the impression that the author has seen what she describes with such clarity, and so we see it too.

randombadger

A Fabulous Feast for The Senses.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 23, 2017

Verified Purchase

A veritable feast for the senses. Warriar weaves a wonderful tale, rich in descriptive detail and nuance. The scents, the colours and exotic heart of India embrace the reader with every page. A compelling coming of age story set in 1950's India, this novel is filled with longing, tradition and an insight into the machinations of family life in rural Assam. Loved it.

KindleSomewhere

A daughter's tale!

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on March 22, 2021

Verified Purchase

Beyond the novel, the author wrote that the British divided and conquered. Is that right?
From the time the British set up their 'factory' at Surat during Emperor Jehangir's tme, they lookied at the interests of their own revenue first. In course of their subsequent actvities in the sub-continent, they mostly subjugated one native ruler after another - the Raja's and Nawab's who ruled a landmass dvided into tiny fragments as Mughal rule declined. On top of that, Assam was not a part of the Mughal empire! The British annexed it as late as 1826! Lord Wellesley and Lord Dalhousie took concrete steps to bring the native rulers under control of East India Company. If India was "united" before the British came, why did we require "Instruments of Accsession" after 1947?
About the narrator's (Kavita) encounter with the Chinese - it is unlikely that there was any scope of non-tribal civilians coming across them within NEFA in '62!
The novel is well-written; but the author may also consider that there can be male versions of Mrs. Krishnan too! If there is anything the husband looks for in marital relation, that is rarely dealt with in any fiction; at best, he is just the provider, procreator and worse.
Also, there is nothing called "women's fiction"! With the role Lady Macbeth played, did that classic become one?

Lesley Wilson

An intriguing book – one that I would recommend 4*

Reviewed in Australia 🇦🇺 on February 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

Fireflies in the Night is slow to get going, but picks up momentum as the story unfolds. Different locations across India provide a colourful and well-crafted backdrop to the narrative. One feels as if the author has done her homework, for she provides readers with an absorbing insight into the social structure of Indian family life. Nalini Warriar’s expertise in portraying her characters’ personalities is absorbing and often surprising. An intriguing book – one that I would recommend 4*

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust

OR

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the Author

Fireflies in the Night: A Coming of Age Historical Novel Kindle Edition

Customers who read this book also read

From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Nalini Warriar

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries