Tarun Mehrishi’s debut novel The Portrait of a Secret is a page-turning spy thriller that spans a wide arc of history — from the early years of the 20th century right up to 2010.
Excerpts:
Q. What do you believe sets The Portrait of a Secret apart from other books in the same genre? How does it stand out and captivate readers?
A. I believe there are three things that do set it apart. For one, it is extremely pacy and once the lead characters are established, it is, by all accounts, quite difficult to put down because of its short chapters, multiple stories and non-linear narrative. Secondly, it is built around stories from history that every Indian is familiar with – be it partition, the accession of Kashmir, the assassination of a Prime Minister, Dawood Ibrahim, Osama Bin Laden or the birth of Bangladesh – and that familiarity and the manner of integration does drive excitement and belief. Thirdly, the language, while evocative, is easy to read, and the book does drag its audience into the lives and minds of its characters, who are believable and immediately familiar.
Q. The book promises a fast-paced and gripping non-linear plot. How did you approach the storytelling to maintain the suspense and keep readers engaged?
I always enjoyed non-linear plots because they compelled me to focus and remain engaged. When it came to The Portrait of a Secret, writing it in that non-linear style was therefore a natural extension of the kind of reading that I personally enjoy. The story is fast paced for a few reasons – one, the chapters are short and tight and available to readers it bite sized portions, which are easier to consume. Each chapter also tries to end on a suspenseful note, which leaves one wondering what the next chapter may hold and encourages you to read just a little bit more and before you know it, another 50 pages have flown by. Secondly, the language itself is ‘light’ and easy to consume, without having to rely on a dictionary or unduly stressing oneself to understand the meaning of long sentences or endless paragraphs. Lastly, as the story integrates a lot of events and characters from history, for large portions of the book, something new is always happening, so there is no risk of a reader getting bored through monotony.
Q. As an author, how do you envision the impact of your book on readers? What emotions or thoughts do you hope to evoke in them?
A. My greatest joy is when any reader comes back to me and says that they loved the read enough to finish it across just one or two sittings. That emotion of excitement and curiosity is the emotion that I hope to extract from my readers. Or, to put it another way, if they end the book believing that they were entertained and hooked, I would believe I have achieved my goal.
QWho have been your mentors in this journey?
A.There are a lot of people that have mentored me through the journey. While listing all of them here would be impossible, endless thanks are due to my friends Neelakantan, Vinay and Gautham, without whose time and invaluable inputs, a lot of the twists and turns would never have been born. Likewise, without my editor Gurveen, the book would have been unnecessarily long and much looser and without my agent Smita, in the absence of whose faith and guidance, the book would never have been published.