Under the Mistletoe - Review

Book Review

Title: Under the Mistletoe & Other Stories

Author: Manali Desai

Manali Desai’s stories have a unique quality. They carry the salt tangs and sweet flavours of life effortlessly. The sweet smiles of love mingle with the sobs of loss and grief just like in life. There is longing and there is fulfilment too. Santa Claus is always there somewhere in the background with his graciousness and twinkling stars. Yes, these are Christmas stories. All twelve of them in this anthology. There are six poems too, again with the Christmas carols echoing in the background.

Writing ultra-realistic stories which charm the reader delightfully requires a touch of genius. That’s all the more true when the stories revolve round a particular theme or season like Christmas. The author of this anthology possesses that genius. She can bring a few very ordinary staff of an institution together in a Christmas celebration and weave a fantastic romantic tale with an inimitable twist at the end. A few passengers of a delayed flight can meet at an airport and not only overcome their frustrations of not being able to celebrate the New Year with family but also forge new friendly relationships that will last long.

Relationships matter much to Manali Desai. There is plenty of them in her stories . There is a lot of tenderness and Christmas is a fitting background to them. The title story, ‘Under the Mistletoe,’ is a striking example of such tenderness. The one which follows it, ‘Elfish Grinch,’ too carries such tenderness straight to the reader’s heart.

Memories too come and go with their versions of tenderness. ‘A Foggy Memory’ and ‘Alma Matters’ come to mind instantly. Both of these take the protagonists back to some fond childhood memories. But something more than remembering happens in both.

The six poems at the end of the collection too carry the Christmas flavour. I particularly loved the boy who asks Santa for a gift with a difference: “Make me old enough / Or maybe / Convince my parents, / That I’m old enough, / To go out alone with my friends, / To ask a girl out on a date…” And the PS to this poem made me burst out laughing: “Not to be confused with Ithan, who is my friend.” The supplicant’s name is Ethan.

The title ‘Under the Mistletoe’ has a romantic touch. There is romance in most of the stories. But more than that, there is the real human life in them. Life as it is lived by ordinary people each day. Manali Desai has succeeded in adding poetry to that life.

PS. The book is available at Amazon.