Nabakumar Ratnakar O Harishchandra by Supriya Choudhuri [Hardcover]

The 1970s. Time is preparing to embrace fire with both hands. But before that, one morning, with the sound of a knock on the door, young Jessie's life took a complex turn in the doctor's quarters of a government hospital. Her father, Ashis Roy, school, Sunday morning movies, the circus, long vacations to Haridwar or Puri—this colorful, postcard-like life was left behind when her mother, Pratima Roy, had to move to an old, moss-covered house in the Hedopara neighborhood of North Kolkata. Everything that was once familiar got lost in the upheaval. All that remained was the name Jessie and her mother's face, which had turned as hard as stone the day they left. As Pratima Roy's life began to revolve again around her two sons, the 1970s descended like a lava flow, sweeping everything in its path. The mother's job as a matron, the rent from her mother Giribala Kundu's house, her expatriate uncle working on the railways... Jessie left the safe, secure refuge of her uncle's house—a safe haven—to swim through the searing current of the '70s. And so began the fiery journey of her life, with twists and turns, as described in this tale of fire and transformation.