Dedicated fans of romantic thriller writer Novoneel Chakraborty braved heavy rain and the ensuing traffic chaos to troop in by the dozen at the launch of his latest book — Forever is a Lie — at Starmark, Mani Square, on September 1.
“I just came from Mumbai and thought I’d finally escaped the rains, but no, they followed me here!” the
Silchar-born writer joked.
The first of a two-part thriller, Forever is a Lie explores “a different kind of love”. Prisha Srivastav, an 18-year-old student, falls in love with an older man, Saveer, who has a sinister secret: he kills every person he falls in love with. The book ends on a cliffhanger and only the second instalment, Forever is True, will provide the answer.
At the interactive session, described by Novoneel as a dose of “therapy” for him, fans asked him about his books, their titles and the characters. According to the writer, Nishani from How About a Sin Tonight? is his favourite character created by himself. “I think I became a little obsessed with her,” he admitted.
“She rides a bike, and whenever I would see a girl riding a bike on the streets of Mumbai, I’d go, ‘There goes Nishani!’”
Given the title of his latest novel, one obvious question was his idea of “forever”.
“I think of it as a moment that stays with you,” said Novoneel. “Humans love to fall for things that cannot happen. We try to hold on to things we know won’t last,” the 30-year-old writer added.
