Poornima Manco

Poornima’s stories are so full of life and description that I felt I experienced a bit of the Indian culture and country I have longed to visit for many years. That voyage is now at the top of my list.

Her writing is so insightful that although the character’s names and places where the stories took place were all set in India, the events, feelings, and lessons were quite ubiquitous. Even if India is a country and culture much removed from your own, it is easy to relate to and become one with the characters as they go on their journey.

There is nothing better than when a story or book causes you to analyze, challenge, and decide for yourself what the ending and the lesson learned is. This book has that in spades.

I am waiting with much anticipation for more from Poornima!

Poornima Manco’s second collection of short stories under the title Damage & other stories (India Book 2) will leave you somewhat damaged emotionally.

Most of the stories reveal heartbreaking events which are all set in India. Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does.

Wishing the stories to be entirely fiction, having a close connection with India myself, I know they are sadly based on true events.

Each story has a hidden message which leaves the reader wondering how life can be so cruel yet so soul searching at same time.

As with Manco’s first collection I’m left with a desire for more as she draws you into each chapter furiously yet abandons you just as quickly, leaving you with a myriad of unanswered questions…

I have read and enjoyed the first 2 parts of this series and was thrilled to see this next volume.

Each of the short stories in Holi Moly is delightful. In her usual style, Poornima develops the characters quickly, and tells their tales using her exceptional vocabulary.

The Indian settings add an extra dimension to what would be beautiful stories anyway.

The release of this book couldn’t have been better timed. We all need hope and the promise of a happy ending at the moment. Anyone who enjoyed Poornima’s previous volumes will love this one just as much.

The Intimacy of Loss is both a mystery and a coming of age story.

Puja, a fifteen year old girl from a family filled with an unspoken sadness, is trying her best to navigate the dynamics of her adolescence, her school, the intertwining relationships of her modest community, her culture, and her sex. An unforeseen relationship with a sweeper overwhelmed by poverty and shrouded in her own mysterious past will affect her future profoundly.

Like the Peacock’s Rain Dance in her school play, Puja’s life is filled with “hope, expectancy and joy” but she must survive as that dance appears to disintegrate. She discovers things are seldom as they appear. Ironically, it is that unpredictability that actually gives her the opportunity to make different choices, be courageous, mature and eventually find happiness. They say “all who wander are not lost”. Puja proves that sometimes one has to get lost to actually be found.