Featuring: Jacob Hills by Ismita Tandon Dhankher

Publication month: May 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Links: Facebook|Goodreads|Flipkart|Homeshop18|Amazon.in

An unloved woman is a soft target, anyone can hit her, have her.
It’s just another evening at the Tiller’s Club.

Near the bar, Capt. Rana, the Young Officer undergoing training at the War College stands among his course mates, consciously avoiding his pregnant, Muslim wife, Heena. Rumour has it she had forced him to marry her because of the baby.

Saryu, village belle turned modern babe, drink in hand, chats up a YO. Her husband, Maj. Vikram Singh, shoots angry glances at her. She isn’t bothered; the question is, who will she go home with tonight?

Pam and Gary, the flamboyant Sikh couple, chat merrily with the senior officers, charming as ever. Who’d ever guess that they lead the infamous Key Club, an underground swinger couples’ club?

And in one corner stands the Anglo-Indian wife of Maj. George Chandy, Eva, who finds herself at the heart of a murder mystery when a woman’s bleeding body is discovered at the old church under the black cross. The murdered woman’s body is covered with cigarette burns. A six-year-old girl’s wrist is similarly marked. Another little girl shows signs of severe abuse.

Jacob Hills: an army station that houses the War College where young officers receive training. A world of army officers and genteel conversation, of smart men and graceful women. Set in the 1980s – in an India that was at the cusp of tradition and Westernized modernity – this is the story of the ugliness that lies beneath the garb ofJacob Hills’s beauty and sophistication. An ugliness the Chandys find themselves confronted with. Will they uncover the truth behind the woman’s murder? Will their love survive Jacob Hills?

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:

The shadow of the erstwhile British army lingered long after they left the country. Their drinking, smoking, womanizing culture was eagerly embraced by the cream of the crop in the organization. Flirtation is a norm of an elitist, high flying society and it was used to further, both personal and professional agenda.

The seventies and eighties was an era of great suppression, men and women were not allowed to mingle freely. All over the world the hippie movement was on a roll since the sixties but premarital sex in India was seen as an aberration.

Under the garb of British legacy, sycophants and lotharios in uniform thrived and carried on the tradition left behind by the Gori Chamdi.

Every organization has its grapevine, Ismita grew up hearing rumors, snatches of conversation, old wives tales. With an active imagination, the blanks were easy to fill and Jacob Hills was born.

Check out the book trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=N1haWkL6Syc

And a review of the book by Janhvi @ The Readdicts' HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ismita Tandon Dhankher is ‘A Lesser Known Poet’. Her poem, ‘The Beasts Run Wild’, is currently up on MSN, as part of an ongoing exclusive feature “Her Courage” in tribute to Indian women. http://news.in.msn.com/her_courage/the-beasts-runs-wild

Ismita’s, 'I am Beautiful’ won prize money of 50,000 on the Yahoo-Dove Indibloggers contest. She’s also the author of the romantic thriller Love on the Rocks, a Penguin imprint released in 2011. Her third mystery novel Love Kills is slated for release by HarperCollins India in December 2013.

Ismita went to Sophia College, Ajmer, where she studied Economics, History and Sociology. After acquiring an MBA and doing a brief stint in the Foreign Exchange Division of Thomas Cook, Mumbai, she took up poetry and prose wholeheartedly.

She just finished her fourth novel Secrets We Hide, and is working on The Song of the Sufi Masroof, a book of photographs and poems. Beyond the Hills(Prequel to Jacob Hills) is in the process of being completed.

Ismita blogs and can be reached at www.lesserknownpoet.com

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