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Author JF Collen |
Thursday, May 19, 2022
#AuthorInterview with JF Collen, author of Pioneer Passage
#BookReview - Toby, Toby, Worry Free by Lucinda Grapenthin
#BookReview - Holding Superman's Hand by Amy Katherine
Holding Superman's Hand
By: Amy Katherine
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: May 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-1639883431
Reviewed by: Amy Lignor
Review Date: May 18, 2022
Right off the bat, I must say, this author declares herself to be both an artist and a writer...which is exactly what she is. To clarify: the scenes, the locations, the characters – every aspect of the book feels as if it’s being painted right before the reader’s eyes. I was mesmerized. This amazes me, because to get to the “mesmerized” level takes quite a bit for me, considering how many books I read each week.
The main character I felt at home with; her name is Amy Emerson, and she’s at that point in life we all look back on and (hopefully) remember fondly. It’s the time of our first slice of freedom. Amy’s world is going well. Not only has she received a scholarship and had the collegiate doors open for her so she can start diving in and learning in this, her first semester, but she has also won out over many in the Lone Star State. You see, there is a much-wanted job opening in Austin, Texas – being a bartender at a highly awesome local – and Amy has landed it and is now wearing that highly-desired hat. Now, all of this sounds like a niche that everyone would die for, especially at her age; however, there’s another aspect to Amy’s life that brings darkness along with all this newfound success.
We segue to Matthew...here, readers meet Mr. Matt Abernathy; some will like him, while others will dislike his self-appreciation and somewhat self-importance that exudes from his words and actions. He has the perfect job — as a bouncer, Mat can use his gift of intimidation quite often. As the author “paints” his portrait, we are met with this Texas Hill Country graduate student’s stunning good looks that, quite literally, makes him Superman’s stand-in: he’s that pretty. Oddly, he laughs like the very jovial Santa, yet he also seems to despise greatly anything, anyone, or any moment in time that he feels is simply wrong and goes against his own morals and honorable standards that he holds upon a pedestal.
Readers will be drawn to this coming-of-age story simply because there are twists and turns in this one that come out of nowhere. Amy, at the age of 17, is staring at a future paved in gold, yet her emotions for Matt are strong and readers will watch and wonder whether or not Amy can somehow find a way to disengage from what looks to be a relationship headed for total disaster.
Yet another upside comes from the fact that this is said to be a new series, which means I’m hooking my wagon to this train ASAP. The author had me at the beginning, and watching Amy’s courage grow and Matt’s story unfold made for a powerful tale. Every word spoken by these characters leads me to believe this author has a whole lot more to say, and has shown already that she has the creativity and talented voice to build a huge audience—sooner rather than later.
Quill says: Holding Superman's Hand is a fantastic read that is mysterious, romantic, dramatic, and memorable; this title completely earns the “5-stars” rating.
For more information on Holding Superman's Hand, please visit the author's website at: holdingsupermanshand.com
Tuesday, May 17, 2022
#AuthorInterview with Nancie Wiseman Attwater, author of A Caregiver's Love Story and Reference Guide
Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Barbara Bamberger Scott is talking with Nancie Wiseman Attwater, author of A Caregiver's Love Story and Reference Guide.
FQ: How did you organize your time and energy to write this memoir/guide, given what must be a very busy life as described in it?
ATTWATER: I am an early riser. The dog wakes me up around 6am to be fed and I then manage to get a lot of things done before Bill wakes up. When I am writing a book, I reserve a few hours every morning for writing, proofreading and organizing. It has worked well for me for several books, so I just kept up the routine. I enjoy writing, and don’t consider it work so it feels good to sit down in the same place every day at my desk and continue my stories.
FQ: Does positing and writing about these facts give you, overall, a sense of hope?
ATTWATER: I wouldn’t say it gives me “hope.” What it gives me is a chance to get all my feelings out of my head and down on paper where I don’t seem to worry about them as much. I am very organized and can get a lot done when necessary. Writing is a type of stress reduction for me. Bill’s illness is terminal. I watch him decline a little more every day. We now have a hospice nurse that comes to see him twice a week and a nurse to help bathe him. It is an ongoing battle, so to speak, but we keep moving and trying to get the most out of the time we have left. I haven’t been writing much lately, I’m thinking I need to get back to it.
FQ: Do you see positive changes emerging in medical care/facilities that could make a difference in the future for those like yourself as a home-based caregiver and for those like Bill needing almost constant oversight?

ATTWATER: I can see that there are more caregiver provider companies now, but the problem is they don’t seem to give a lot of thought to who they hire. Because they cannot do “medical” things, just about anyone can have the job. Right now, we have a young gal who is only 18, but does a wonderful job taking care of Bill. Cooks for him, does laundry, etc. I have a list of duties for the caregivers, and I will say that many days it gets ignored when the TV is on, and their cell phone is in their hands.
It is thought to be best for a person to stay in their own home, if possible, instead of going to a facility. The care is supposed to be better in one’s home, but what they don’t seem to mention is the toll that takes on the caregiver. I’m a trained nurse and can handle emergencies and come up with ideas to take better care of Bill. But I get so tired, and my temper gets a little short that some days I feel I’m not doing him any favors by keeping him home. His dementia is becoming more of a problem, and he needs me to fill in the gaps for him. A medical assistant in a facility wouldn’t be able to do that. He will always say “Get Nancie, she’ll take care of it.” He knows I will do this no matter the toll on me.
FQ: Apart from caregiving, is writing now your primary avocation or will you continue to explore other avenues of creativity?
ATTWATER: I am a quilter, knitter and needleworker and I get to explore a lot of creative outlets with those three hobbies. Time is an issue as they all require attention to detail and some spare hours. Some days, I tell myself to sit down and sew, or knit for the day, like I used to be able to. It never happens. But it’s nice to think I will someday again. I have always enjoyed watching TV and doing needlework while Bill rested. Lately I’ve been in bed fast asleep by 7pm. I know I will get back to all these avocations eventually, but then again that means I will be living alone to do it.
FQ: Could you envision a documentary illustrating your own life experience and development of your methods of dealing with sickness and impending sorrow?
ATTWATER: Well, I could see that of course. My best friend in Utah will always ask me “Who is going to play you in the movie?” when I send her a new book to read. It seems like a playful statement, but I believe the information would be valuable to anyone who is faced with the illness of a loved one. It’s doesn’t need to be a spouse. It could be a parent, sibling, close relative or even a child.
Dealing with impending sorrow is another issue I deal with every day. I try not to cry about this, but I was reading my book to Bill because he can’t read it now and I can’t get through a chapter without the tears falling.
FQ: What is your best memory of life together with Bill since he has become an invalid?
ATTWATER: Our life remains full of love despite the obstacles. Our early days of travel are fond memories, and we speak of them often and look at the photo albums of those happy days as a reminder. Bill remains very pleasant even on his worst days and he doesn’t remember the good times as much as I do. It’s easy to remind him and try to keep his spirits up with the memories of when he was up and about, doing the cooking that he loved and taking care of everything in the house.
FQ: Have you considered speaking about/organizing workshops based on these important topics?
ATTWATER: I am doing a lecture to a group here where I live in June. I would love to do more. I think that organizing this information into a workshop with a discussion of other people’s needs when it comes to caregiving would be wonderful.
FQ: What would be your strongest recommendation to the typical reader of this work – someone facing similar dilemmas, with or without a medical background?
ATTWATER: Read everything you can find. Look up diagnoses on the internet. Be sure you understand everything. Learn about all the medications you are giving to your loved one. When going to the doctor take notes; do not rely on your memory. If you have access to your doctor via their website read all the after-visit notes and be sure you understand them. Be a loud voice, be annoying if you must because your understanding of the medical issues is imperative to the care of your loved one. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Even more than one time if necessary.
There are times that even with my medical background I forget what the doctor said or recommended. I was always in the mode of getting Bill in and out of the doctor, making sure he had oxygen and was comfortable in the wheelchair. This sometimes got in the way of the doctor visit. I had too much going on to remember it all. Get help if you can, involve family if they are willing and be careful of your own needs as well.
Monday, May 16, 2022
#BookReview of Blue Zeus: Legend of the Red Desert
Blue Zeus: Legend of the Red Desert
Written and photographed by: Carol J. Walker
Publisher: Living Images by Carol Walker, LLC
Publication Date: March 30, 2022
ISBN: 978-0578350943
Reviewed by: Ellen Feld
Review Date: May 13, 2022
Carol Walker, animal lover and advocate for America’s wild horses, offers her latest work, Blue Zeus: Legend of the Red Desert, that will educate readers about the plight of these majestic animals, as well as bring tears to one's eyes.
Blue Zeus is the fascinating story of a wild stallion that stole Carol’s heart the day she first laid eyes on him. A beautiful blue roan, with numerous battle scars that told the story of fights he’d had with other stallions, the horse stoically guarded his small band as Carol photographed him, as well as his mares and foals.
Carol set to work photographing this mesmerizing band of horses and the pages of Blue Zeus are loaded with great photographs of them. Images of the mares peacefully grazing, Blue Zeus standing guard, and even a young filly “clacking” in submission to the herd sire, engage the reader and brings them into the world of wild horses. The author has done a fantastic job of capturing the life of a herd of wild horses.
About half the book is devoted to the daily life of Blue Zeus’s herd but then the narrative switches to recounting the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) roundups and removal of wild horses. Carol describes the heartbreaking sight of the roundup of wild horses by helicopter, as well as sharing photographs of the event. Terrified horses, mares and foals, confused and panicked, being herded into trap sites from which there is no escape. “It is the harsh reality of seeing wild horses that you know and love,” recounts Carol, “running for their lives from helicopters...It is a horrible feeling of helplessness…as I see a horse go down or rider roping a foal and dragging it in.” (pg. 79)
I first became acquainted with the artistry of Carol Walker when I discovered her book Horse Photography: The Dynamic Guide for Horse Lovers. She then wrote two books dedicated to wild horses, Wild Hoofbeats: America’s Vanishing Wild Horses and Galloping to Freedom: Saving the Adobe Town Appaloosas. All three are excellent, “not to be missed” books that feature Carol’s beautiful photographs to help tell the stories, particularly about America’s wild horses. The author has made it her mission to help save our nation’s vanishing wild horses and her books, including Blue Zeus will undoubtedly help bring attention to the cause. She does an excellent job of telling the herd’s story and gets the reader to care about their plight. Her recounting of the incredible frustration of dealing with government officials as she tries to save Blue Zeus and his herd from a very bad situation is enough to anger all readers. Let’s hope that this book will help bring much needed attention, and indeed change, to help these majestic animals live out their lives in the wild as they were meant to. Kudos to author Carol J. Walker for helping to bring the fight to the attention of so many through her beautiful book Blue Zeus: Legend of the Red Desert.
Quill says: Stunning photographs and a compelling and fascinating story combine to make Blue Zeus: Legend of the Red Desert a book that every horse lover, and indeed, every animal lover needs to read.
For more information on Blue Zeus: Legend of the Red Desert, please visit WildHoofbeats.com
#AuthorInterview with Paul Lomax, author of Amygdala Blue
Sunday, May 15, 2022
#AuthorInterview with Lorenzo DeStefano, author of House Boy
Today, Feathered Quill reviewer Risah Salazar is talking with Lorenzo DeStefano, author of House Boy.
FQ: How would you describe your creative process?
DESTEFANO: House Boy has been unlike any other writing adventure I have been on. I first encountered the true incident on which the book is based in 1995 while in London for a reading of a play of mine at the Greenwich Theatre.
The small newspaper article I read one day, about a young man’s trial for murder of his female “employer,” tapped into my existing interest in and revulsion for the phenomenon of modern slavery. What I found initially compelling was that this victim of domestic and sex slavery was a young man while the perpetrator was a middle-aged woman. This contrasted with the usual dynamic of female sex trafficking that I and many others had gotten used to.
After inquiries were made, it was arranged by the accused’s solicitor that I visit the convicted young man in Brixton prison in South London to discuss his case and interview him for a potential magazine article. In the novel, I transferred many aspects of this experience with that of Detective Jayawan Gopal, in that the day before my scheduled visit the inmate was deported to India. This was, I learned, one of the terms of his conviction for “manslaughter with provocation,” a lesser charge than “capital murder” because of the extenuating circumstance of torture and enslavement that came out at trial.
Disappointed but glad for his second chance at freedom, I tried for several months to locate this young man in Tamil Nadu State through private investigators, to no avail. This was not a person with any social profile, no footprints to trace. No amount of web surfing turned up anything.
I gave up on the piece, at least how I originally envisioned it. But this was that kind of story that gets a hold of a writer and will not let go. Unlike many of my other fact-based film & theater projects, there was very little documentary evidence to follow. There were no first person witnesses available. As a result, I decided after several years away from the piece to embark on a major creative journey and write the story as a novel.
I worked on it for many years, in between film and theater and other writing projects. On subsequent trips to the UK, I visited the location of the actual incident on Finchley Lane in the borough of Hendon, North London. I photographed every house on each side of the street, knowing that in one of these dwellings these horrific events had taken place. I observed a number trials at the Old Bailey, London’s Central Criminal Court, to familiarize myself with the UK’s completely different trial system. After inquiring of the Court if a transcript of the trial could be obtained, I was told that as a murder case these records had been sealed. I did manage, through the kind intervention of a clerk, to receive a copy of the 28 page Police Summary of the case, which proved invaluable and was the single greatest piece of research I obtained.
With this in hand, I embarked on voluminous research into a culture not my own. This was an incredibly challenging process. A better word would be daunting. I did my best to infuse Vijay’s desperate search for salvation during his ordeal in the Tagorstani’s house with the kind of Hindu and Tamil prayers I felt he, as a man of faith, would cling to for inner strength. I found out quickly that Indian culture is fiendishly complex, especially for outsiders. I was determined, as a western writer, to get the facts and the history and the language right. This took a very long time and much trial and error.
FQ: You are not South Asian, but you have lots of South Asian characters, aside from the protagonist, in the book. What motivated you to write this one? Do you have first-hand experience in witnessing a human trafficking incident?

DESTEFANO: While I believe that writers should be able to explore any subject under the sun, no matter their ethnicity, there is a special responsibility when the story is outside one’s life and cultural experience. From the beginning I knew that a major part of completing the manuscript would be to consult with a South Asian author or academic to help me eliminate anything inauthentic or just plain wrong. Through Atmosphere Press I met Falguni Jain, a young writer and book reviewer from Maharashtra, India. Falguni was extremely helpful in making certain that the many references to South Asian cultural & religious content were correct and that the rigorous rules of the caste system, down to names and customs and social attitudes, was authentic and indisputable.
The trust and support of many people have gone into this book’s completion, including everyone at Atmosphere Press for seeing the promise in the book and guiding me expertly towards publication. Most importantly, I need to send thanks and respect to “EMG”, the man I never met, who actually lived this story.
Other than my efforts to meet “EMG” I do not have any first-hand experience with human trafficking. I guess I should consider myself fortunate in this, though I do feel that by immersing myself in this story for all these years I have attempted to come as close as I can to what it would be like to be in a situation like Vijay’s, though nothing in a book, however well executed or intentioned, can compare to what goes on in real life.
FQ: Detective Inspector Gopal, like Vijay, is a South Asian character. Was this intentional? Do you think Vijay’s case would have been handled differently if the D.I. was not of the same race as the accused?
DESTEFANO: The character of Jayawan Gopal was always intended to be South Asian. I felt that his experience as an upper caste Brahmin, rising in the ranks of the Metropolitan Police, provided the ideal contrast to Vijay’s tragic experience in the new world. I do feel that the dynamic between these two would have been vastly different and much less interesting if the Detective Inspector were a white man or woman. Empathetic as he/she may have been, they could never have gotten close to understanding who they were dealing with. D.I. Gopal has a hard enough time despite he and Vijay both being from India. Their life experiences are worlds apart, universes apart in fact.
I also found that Gopal’s process in getting to know and understand Vijay mirrored my own attempts as a writer to meet the real character on which Vijay is based. I found it easier to find an overlap between my own frustrated experience trying to meet this young man in Brixton Prison in 1995 with Gopal’s attempts over the course of his investigation and the subsequent trial and conviction to get close to someone he had very little in common with, despite their shared nationality.
FQ: Why focus on Indian culture and its people? I’m sure there are other races who fall victim into and perpetrate human trafficking. When you did your research, was there a huge turn out of Indians among others?
DESTEFANO: In the process of writing House Boy, I came to understand a very sad reality - that domestic and sex slavery knows no cultural or geographic boundaries. This kind of oppression seems to lie so deep in the human DNA as to be something eternal, insidious, fueled by greed and a streak of cruelty beyond what most people are capable of, not to mention comprehend.
The criminal elements at work here should not be discounted, which is why I made Binda and her gang at the Pandit Advisory Group such experts at “affinity fraud”, the nearly foolproof method of criminal enterprise based on people lowering their guard when dealing with those they feel are like them and would, therefore, never abuse their trust.
All this makes for an unholy alliance of factors that create the roles to be played in this sinister drama called modern slavery – the oppressed and the oppressors. It’s like an epic play that never ends. The curtain on these actions never rises or falls. The drama just goes on and on, year after year, decade after decade, millennia and millennia, like a marathon session in this madhouse called humanity.
FQ: As a follow-up question to the last one, could you run us through the research you did? Where did you go, who did you talk to, and what did you find out?
DESTEFANO: I consulted with people at Anti-Slavery International in the U.K., Free The Slaves in the U.S., Human Rights Watch, and Kalayaan, a London-based charity which works to provide practical advice and support for the rights of migrant workers.
I also read a number of books on the subject of modern slavery, the most important being Kevin Bales’ The Slave Next Doorand Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.
I watched a number of video news stories from India and all over the world covering cases of modern slavery. I also watched many times the amazing film, Bandit Queen, about the notorious Dalit woman, Phoolan Devi, who formed a gang of mostly male soldiers and took violent revenge on the upper caste tormentors who had repeatedly raped her at any early age and beat and humiliated her and her family over many years. After receiving amnesty, Devi stood for election to Parliament as a candidate of the Samajwadi Party and was twice elected as a Member of Parliament. She served in this capacity between 1996 and 2001, until the year she was assassinated outside her home by relatives of those she and her supporters had killed years before for revenge.
Researching House Boy was a fascinating but often unpleasant experience that exposed me to a very bloody and tumultuous history, one lasting thousands of years and crossing borders like an unstoppable virus, a pernicious disease.
FQ: Aside from the soulless people who make human trafficking a business, could we actually attribute the blame to its victims? Is there some kind of brainwashing that happens or are people who fall into this really naive in nature? Because from what I’ve read, Vijay seems to be clever. He may be poor, but he’s not dumb. How could someone like him fall for this huge scam?
DESTEFANO: I don’t believe that it’s right in cases like this to blame the victims. Probably it’s never the right thing to do. It’s like saying that a woman who is raped brought it on herself. This kind of violence and human rights abuse is deeply rooted in the psyches of the perpetrators, who may themselves not know why they are doing these horrible things. Something sets in called “caste privilege,” a kind of belief system that Binda and her son and other Brahmin characters in the books are definitely afflicted with. There are many victims here, but the true victims of serf suffering are those who are enslaved, not their keepers.
Vijay, as with the real character he is based on, struck me as an innocent in search of something we all hope to get out of life, some just treatment and reward for the work we do. He was too trusting, was in way over his head. And due to the kind of “affinity fraud” perpetrated on him by Mr. Gupta and Mr. Gopalan of the Better Life Employment Agency in Chennai, he falls for their glowing promises of a better life in the U.K. where he can fulfill his dream of earning money for his sisters’ dowries and improve the lot of his parents back in Chettipattu.
FQ: Again, as a follow-up to the last question. Why did you make Vijay stay at the Tagorstani residence even after the “deed”? He knows one way or another, this is going to be connected to him. He must have been eager for freedom. He must have wanted to ask for help and escape to contact the authorities. But he stayed - why?
DESTEFANO: At some point in Vijay’s captivity, as we have seen in other extreme cases of enslavement, “Stockholm Syndrome” sets in, which explains in part why he stays in the house on Finchley Lane after he has dispatched Binda. He knows no other place to go in this place called England. In a way he is finally at peace, a peace he knows will not last long, with Ravi Tagorstani soon to return from his business trip to Blackpool and demand answers about his mother’s whereabouts. Vijay knows he has committed a sin, no matter how justified, and that he will have to pay a heavy price for this. Try as he does to conceal his guilt with the most outlandish lies to Ravi and to the authorities he, as an essentially honest man, no choice but await his punishment for what he has done against the laws of God and Man.
FQ: Aside from exposing this harsh reality, is there another purpose for writing House Boy? Is this some kind of protest to wake people up and encourage people to do more to finally end human trafficking?
DESTEFANO: During this entire process, I became fascinated by the way the caste system seemed to jump so effortlessly from the ancient world to the so-called “New World”. Over many years of writing and rewriting this piece, a major motivation was to try and nail down as much as possible why this happens in human society and how, with this book, there may be a way to illuminate this situation for the better.
Despite my long experience in documentary filmmaking and as a writer of non-fiction, I did not want to write a rigidly “factual: piece. I felt that that being constrained by documentary facts, of which I had very few anyway, would not be the best way to create the scenes and situations I felt were necessary to paint a dramatic picture of this year in the life of Vijay Pallan. I was more after something that would keep me, as a reader, engaged from start to finish.
The risk with a piece like this is that you can exhaust the goodwill of the reader by being too relentlessly dark about what is taking place. Exhaustion sets in. Readers have been exposed to so much horror, so much human indignity, that the mere mention of something like modern slavery or human trafficking send people running for something more palatable to read or experience. I had to find away, and I hope I have, to make Vijay’s story so compelling, so captivating and powerful, that most people would tolerate the darkness of the piece in search of the light that does exist within it, the light of hope that can never be allowed to be extinguished.
What happens to Vijay and everyone else in this novel is no fairy tale. Despite there being no truly happy endings, I wanted House Boy to have some redemptive qualities. Largely through Inspector Gopal’s encounters with Vijay Pallan, we learn much about the harsh realities of human trafficking, the boundless capacity for human pain, and the ultimate blessing of even one man’s survival.
FQ: Vijay eventually got his justice. I’m curious if the other people in Sami Appan’s van also got theirs? Was the Pandit Group investigated and dissolved?
DESTEFANO: That’s a very interesting question and one I have not thought about before. In a tragic way these people that Vijay meets briefly in the darkened interior of Sami Appan’s van are, like him, nameless, faceless people being transported for purposes beyond their initial comprehension. They are there to feed the labor needs of people who see them not as fellow human beings but as creatures of service. Like millions of other citizens of the world, they count for next to nothing to those who control their destinies. They are fodder for the machine that is human exploitation. It’s a very sad and troubling fact that the vast majority of victims of crimes like this, as in Vijay’s case, never achieve any semblance of justice. They and their suffering become invisible to us. Their predicament is so enormous it is beyond out ability to process or comprehend.
As for the Pandit Advisory Group set up by Binda, I indicate in the book that it has been thoroughly exposed because of Vijay’s trial and Sheela Atwal’s damning testimony. As a result, this particular affinity scam and the people who ran it, namely Al Mohindar, Ray Nabob, and Sheela Atwal, will be serving considerable prison time for their fraudulent activities, though I did not go into too much detail about their fates other than to indicate that they will indeed be paying some price for their actions.
#BookReview - House Boy by Lorenzo DeStefano
House Boy
By: Lorenzo DeStefano
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1639882434
Reviewed by: Risah Salazar
Review Date: May 10, 2022
Wanting a better life, not only for himself but also for his family, Vijay Pallan travels from Chettipattu to the capital Chennai. He and his family are Dalits, untouchables, people belonging to the lowest caste in India. One would think that in the modern world, this kind of discrimination would no longer exist, but such is not the case for the Pallans. His actual motivation to get out of his hometown is not even his own dream - it’s for his twin sisters’ dowries. His family is getting more anxious every day that Amala and Sakhti, despite their good looks and warm dispositions, would never find their respective husbands because they do not have money. So, with everything that he’s got, even though that’s not really much other than a whole lot of courage, and hesitant goodbyes from his family, he makes this hopeful move.
Without a relative or any contact person in Chennai, the moment Vijay steps out of the bus, he roams around and starts looking for a job. When he made this decision, he was sure that there would be something here for him. But looking at the job vacancies in a newspaper, the positions look odd to him - he has never even heard of these kinds of jobs before! Tired, as the day approaches its end, he takes refuge in one of the benches in a children’s park. Vijay falls asleep there, still with no concrete plans, just a huge aspiration that tomorrow would present something better for him.
In the middle of the night, something noisy and painful wakes him up. A civet cat has attacked Vijay and he is now heavily bleeding. A nice man named Santhana Gopalan helps him out, takes him home to mend his wounds, and gives him something to eat. He even lets Vijay stay in his house for a few days until he has fully recuperated. Vijay could not believe his luck - what are the odds that he would find an extremely kind man in the capital who’d eventually offer him a job.
Mr. Gopalan soon introduces Vijay to his boss, the owner of Better Life Employment Agency, Narahari Gupta. Together, these two men lure Vijay to an opportunity of a lifetime in London. The moment Vijay met Mr. Gupta, everything happened so fast - he was given a breakdown of his fees when he got there, he underwent a lot of tests to assure his health and capabilities, then he was asked to sign some documents despite the contents not being explained to him well. The only thing that’s clear is that he will be sent abroad to serve an Indian family there. Vijay is promised that he doesn’t need to do or pay the employment agency anything. In fact, he’s the one who will be receiving 40,000 rupees as an advance when he accepts the job. When his test results came in and everything looked fine, Vijay was given instructions on what to do the moment he steps out of Better Life Employment Agency until he arrives at Heathrow Airport. With heartfelt thanks to the men who gave him this wonderful opportunity, as well as to the gods he’s always prayed to, he arrives in London with nothing but naive hope in his eyes. What Vijay didn’t know was that his life is indeed about to take a huge turn - but not for the better.
Even though Vijay’s story is fictional, it’s widely known that human trafficking is something that still happens in our world today, despite global efforts to stop it. These traffickers are taking advantage of a lot of innocent people who want nothing but to truly make their lives better. This makes Lorenzo DeStefano’s House Boy a painfully realistic expository. He discusses a lot of existing social and environmental problems and never lets you forget them through his haunting storytelling. His characters are as human as they can be - complex and deeply motivated.
In terms of world-building, DeStefano is consistently amazing. From Chettipattu to Chennai to London, he takes the readers not only into the character’s journey but also into the setting where it happens. House Boy, despite the harsh realities that it tackles, gives a vivid imagery of the towns and cities involved in Vijay’s travels. The book has just the right amount of details. Unlike other books, the string of facts does not bore you, it actually makes the story even more interesting. There are several typos found that make the narrative a bit confusing sometimes, but after a few re-reads, the reader would surely get what was supposed to be written. In terms of plot, the story could still be improved. Some parts seem rushed, not having any build-up at all. There are also parts that leave the reader with questions, hoping to get (non-existent) answers in the end. But apart from that, House Boy, overall, is a great read that would ground you and make you check your privilege.
Quill says: House Boy is a page-turner that is both enthralling and horrifying.
For more information on House Boy, please visit the book's website at: houseboynovel.com