Book: It Was Always You

Author: Divita Aggarwal

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Rupa Publication

Of the three books that landed up at my door-step, this was one which caught my eye as it had some pretty good reviews including one by Shashi Tharoor. And I was much intrigued to find that the book is penned by a 17 year-old girl. It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t jealous a bit too…here I am, mother of a teenage daughter, with an urge to write the story that has been brewing in me for quite some time now but every time I put pen to paper my courage fails me and I begin to doubt whether my story is worth telling; and there is this brave young girl who has hardly spent time in an adult world but has gone ahead and published her school life story!

The story is a simple coming of age of a young girl Aisha, who while dealing with her daily routine in school finds her friendship with Kabir, the son of a corrupt MLA, finally blossoming into love over the years.

Either I am too old to relate to the events in book(there was never any MUN kind of thing in the convents I studied in) or I am too young(my daughter’s school has not informed me about any such event in her school as yet)…the description of events in school is very new to me. I am not sure what my reaction would be when my daughter reaches that stage….I won’t be gifting her any diamond ear studs like the protagonist’s mother, for school function….at least that is certain!!

 I found Aisha’s father’s advice, in the entire narrative, quite appropriate when he tells her, “Aisha, what is meant to be, will be. If two roads are supposed to meet, they always find a way, a direction.” This philosophy holds true in most aspects of life be it finding love or your calling.

For a teenager to pen a story long enough to be printed as a book, the effort is commendable. However, people of my age are not the target readers for the story. Kids from international schools would feel more aligned to the events mentioned in the book.

Overall a nice simple love story for teenagers.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1617477762

https://www.amazon.in/review/R1TMZYZWQBW2HQ/ref=pe_1640331_66412301_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv