The Hope Factory by Lavanya Sankaran, published by Tinder Press, £7.99.

 

“A BOOK which seemingly refuses to lie down, The Hope Factory provides its readers with an inside look into modern India building past the stereotypical factory business owner towards the mafia-like run dark side of the country.

Appropriately centred around the factory in Bangalore, where each character’s life in linked in some way, the book helps peek into the households of two completely contrasting families whose values, beliefs, lifestyles and struggles are so very different from one another, that of factory-owner Anand and of his maid, Kamala. While portraying the want for idealistic lifestyles amidst all the nexus between real estate, crime and politics, Lavanya Sankaran’s narrative flows throughout the whole story, giving the right amount of emotion and thought to each of her characters allowing the reader to invoke them for themselves to move the story along, proving her strength lies in knowing what she is writing about as well as using every word sparingly.

Mirroring each other’s trials and tribulations, Anand and Kamala breakdown the illusion that different classes face different issues.

All in all, a strong debut from the author with promise for her future works.”