Genre:
Historical Romance
Themes:
Historical
Long Distance Relationship
Love At First Sight
Heat Level:
Sweet (kissing, holding hands, etc., but no other on-the-page physical intimacy)
Archetypes:
Escort / Courtesan / Sex worker
Writer/ Author
Geographic Location:
India
Setting:
Big City / Urban
Foreign Country
Historical
Protagonist Identity:
South Asian
Memory of Light
By Ruth Vanita
A poet meets a dancer in 18th-century India
Preparations for King George the Third’s fiftieth birthday gala are in full swing in Lucknow. As poets and performers vie to be part of the show, Chapla Bai, a dazzling courtesan from Kashi, briefly enters this competitive world, and sweeps the poet Nafis Bai off her feet. An irresistible passion takes root, expanding and contracting like a wave of light. Over two summers, aided by Nafis’s friends, the poets Insha and Rangin, and Sharad, himself in love with a man, they exchange letters and verses, feeding each other the heady fruit of desire. When Chapla leaves for home, they part with the dream of building a life together. Can their relationship survive the distances?
Narrated in the voice of Nafis, Memory of Light weaves an exquisite web of conversations, songs, reminiscences around a life-changing love.