Blurb

The Lights of Shantinagar is a warm and lively portrait of family life set in modern India where new philosophies are reshaping old traditions and one woman’s astute observations can change everything.

Aspiring quantum physicist Sumi is newly married and has moved into her husband’s family home. Here she observes that the beguilingly tranquil middle-class town of Shantinagar is not very different from her beloved quantum world: the happenings in one house are cryptically entangled with things next door, objects mysteriously disappear and unexpected interactions reveal surprising truths.

As the line between right and wrong begins to blur, new discoveries force the residents of Shantinagar to reflect on what they truly know about themselves and the ones they love. Meanwhile, Sumi must blend logic with love to make sense of her new circumstances.

Review

Although not my usual genre, I was intrigued by the blurb. The links Sumi finds between quantum physics and the lives of the close knit families from three neighbouring houses is interesting and thought provoking. Can the surety and definites of science be compared to the idiosyncrasies and indefinites of human lives and emotions?

For me this is a story about people assuming they know everything about their friends and family but not really knowing them. So much of how we view others is our own perception of them and their behaviours. Some of the characters were sure they knew certain things but later discover it was merely their own projections of emotion and certainty, things becoming much clearer once the truth is uncovered.

It is a human trait go through life believing certain things and only hindsight, along with some honesty from others (and sometimes yourself), shows how wrong you were. We don’t always ask awkward questions or confront others when maybe we should. We don’t tell others things that we think may hurt them, when doing so would stop a different hurt.

Thanks to @The_WriteReads for the eARC for me to review for this blog tour.

About the Book

Genre: Contemporary, Family Saga

Age Category: Adult

Publisher: Unbound 

Number of Pages: 272 Pages

Publication Date: June 5, 2025

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223593898-the-lights-of-shantinagar 

Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b6f80ce5-c583-4b3b-8768-7f11b4399002 

Amazon: https://a.co/d/h4RwcMz (Canada) https://a.co/d/gufZ2NA (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/hb8CN9s (UK)