Books

Countries, relationships and temples form the destiny of this memoir about a woman who’s in search of her identity and is also struggling with blackmail “But here I was at temple, wishing for the gods to exalt me from pain- but secretly I was wishing for love. That’s how we are.” So, the total distance from Delhi to Melbourne is 10,213 km and the total distance to travel in search of oneself is limitless. Dirty Little Secrets exactly does that, taking people on a journey of the heart from Melbourne to India and back. A non-linear account of Nandita Chakraborty’s life and this is also the story of a woman who seeks out her own adventure, leaving everything familiar behind. Being thirty and written off had its own tribulations; sometimes truth is ugly, mutilated into stigmas, and acceptance becomes hard. An end to any relationships is the beginning of a grieving process and this book is a tribute to that. Then she met Franklin. Was he there to warn her of rising from the ashes, just like her phoenix tattoo? The affection of young Vinod had dwindled away when she came back to Melbourne and Franklin picked up the loose thread. Taking her by the arm was enough for her to fall in love with him. But then he was gone, only to reappear after many months, in love with someone else. In Nov 2011, Franklin’s prediction of her obtaining new life by arising from the ashes came true when she fell 40 metres in a rock- climbing accident, receiving an acquired brain injury. She rises again to a new life, leaving everything comfortable behind the past to embrace the new.

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“This is a story of a brave woman … This story is a no-holds-barred account of what it means to lose oneself, to find oneself again, to hold space in desire, courage and strength.”
Roanna Gonsalves
Author of The Permanent Resident, Winner of the theMulticultural Award, 2018 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards.