The Vibrant Years

By: Jamie Steinberg

Vibrant indeed! Sonali Dev’s book The Vibrant Years truly brings such depth and passion to the pages of her new novel. This tale that is first selection from Mindy Kaling’s boutique story studio is the perfect mix of heartbreak and hope. Sixty-five-year-old Bindu Desai finds her world turned upside down after an unexpected inheritance arrives and along with it the past she never wanted to revisit comes rushing back. Can Bindu reconcile who she was with the woman she is now?

We all have pieces of our past we would like to forget. For Bindu, it’s a decision she made at the age of seventeen to take part in a Bollywood movie that involved a sex scene. That one act changed her life forever as she was tossed out of her home. In order to save herself from a life on the streets, her father’s physician agrees to pay off the director (and Bindu’s secret love) to destroy the film so he can marry her. From then on she lived a quiet but lonely life as the wife of a man who wanted a lady in the streets but a freak in the sheets. So, Bindu become a “good wife” and raised her son Ashish. However, when her husband passed away, she moved in with Ashish and his wife Aly. Unfortunately, their marriage didn’t last, but Bindu decided to remain in the home with Aly and her granddaughter Cullie. They lived a happy life together until one day Bindu receives correspondence that her former paramour and director, Oscar Seth, has passed away and left her a million dollars. She hides the real reason for her windfall and uses the money to buy a beautiful new luxury condo at a posh Florida retirement community. The men of the community are more than excited to have a beauty like Bindu arrive, but the ladies of the HOA aren’t as thrilled. The next events set off a chain reaction that opens old wounds – familial and personal.

Meanwhile, readers are treated to side stories about Aly’s life as an on-air reporter and Cullie’s work as an app creator (Cullie’s “Shloka” app for anxiety has helped me without it even being real. The mantra “breathe in four, out six” was a much-needed reminder during this holiday season.). Aly has her hands full battling an Editor that won’t give her a long-deserved solo segment and Cullie is undertaking a new app that will help make it easier for singles to find their soulmate. Along the way Cullie enlists both her mother and grandmother to help test out her latest creation, which she hopes will sway her investors into letting her keep Shloka a non-subscription app. While things don’t go great with Bindu, Cullie and Aly’s forays into the world of app dating (mind you, Bindu has only been with one other man than her husband), all the ladies take away newfound confidence in their personal and professional lives.

Author Dev truly captivates her readers and invests you in each journey. You want Bindu to find peace with her past. You want Cullie to get her app back. You want Aly to stand up for herself and get the job she’s earned. For those intrigued, be sure to pick up a copy of The Vibrant Years and enjoy reading this wonderful tale start to finish.