Book Details:
Book Title: Choppiness on High Seas by Arvind Wadhera
Category: Adult Fiction (18 +), 296 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publisher: Troubadour UK
Release date: October 2024
Content Rating: PG -13 + M rating for: There is contextual sex, violence and abuse.
Book Description:
Being born into poverty and hardship in 1930s London, Matthew’s life was one of relentless struggle. One inadvertent act in defence of his mother would haunt his conscience forever.
Matthew’s journey takes him from the poverty of a cold stone granary to the opulence of Mayfair and Kensington Palace Gardens, where he starts a family of his own. Despite working his way to the top of the business world, he remains an outsider to London’s elite. He then realises that that same elite has an ugly underbelly. High society was a hot bed of depravity.
Will he correct society’s wrongs? Will the man who never succumbed to expectations be able to challenge his own destiny or will he simply accept the futility of it all?
Being born into poverty and hardship in 1930s London, Matthew’s life was one of relentless struggle. One inadvertent act in defence of his mother would haunt his conscience forever.
Matthew’s journey takes him from the poverty of a cold stone granary to the opulence of Mayfair and Kensington Palace Gardens, where he starts a family of his own. Despite working his way to the top of the business world, he remains an outsider to London’s elite. He then realises that that same elite has an ugly underbelly. High society was a hot bed of depravity.
Will he correct society’s wrongs? Will the man who never succumbed to expectations be able to challenge his own destiny or will he simply accept the futility of it all?
Meet the Author:
Arvind has three adult children, who all live away from Belgium. He reads literary fiction and was motivated to write after reading three key books: The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Thérèse Raquin, 1984 and East of Eden. He is fascinated by the co-existence of good and evil. In his first book, Emma's Equilibrium, he relates the story of an Olympic winner who suffers hurt along the way. Choppiness on High Seas charts the life of Matthew from his ignominious birth to his passing away in peace after having become one of the weathiest persons in the world.
Arvind loves languages and can speak French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Italian, Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati. He is a stroke survivor and rides, jogs and does yoga.
He is a strong believer in the duality of fortune and misfortune. He is deeply spiritual.
Arvind finds writing challenging and frustrating and editing particularly painful. He, however, believes that writing can be therapeutic and gratifying.
connect with the author: website ~ X ~ instagram ~ goodreads
Guest Post:
Writing the pain
I wanted to contrast Matthew’s stratospheric rise in the business world with the emotional abyss he suffers with the loss of all his family.
Losing his mother who had lived through all sorts of hardship to give him a bright future was a tragedy that he could not come to terms with. To portray the sorrow and grief he felt, I rewrote after I lost my own mother and tried to transpose my own feelings and rudderless emptiness into his existence.
Losing his wife was more difficult because I approached it with a slow burn narrative where his ever-increasing fortunes could do nothing to arrest his wife’s physical deterioration and suffering. I wrote these passages mainly in the night because it just felt more sincere. For someone winning in the world of business to accepting defeat to his wife’s ailment was aimed at demonstrating that man can feel immense pain even while he is flourishing, that there is a complete disconnect between who we are and how we feel.
His fortune fails to save his daughter even though she gets his undivided attention; here, I had to get into the skin of a father who was about to lose his child. I have fortunately not been in this situation but the desperation he feels was very difficult to portray and I had to write and re-write passages until such a point in time that I felt a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes just reading back what I read.
I think that delivering pain in a book is the most traumatic experience for an author.
I tried to sum it all up in a quote by Matthew on page 285: “I will never know if I was being punished for my rewards or if I was being compensated for my misfortune.”
My Review:
I found that Choppiness on High Seas to be a a great introduction to Arvind Wadhera's writing. I enjoyed reading this tale of loss, heartbreak, redemption, and inspiration. When I opened the book, I was transported back in time to the 1930s in the impoverished section of London, England and meeting Matthew. This is the type of book that took me on an emotional roller coaster, invoking a variety emotions in me. One minute there is a scene that warmed my heart, while needing to grab the tissue box in the next. They story was full of drama and thought provoking, with relatable characters It was interesting spending time going through the decades with the Stephens family. I started to feel as though they were my own family. The author beautifully used details that made me feel as though I was right there with them year after year, decade after decade. It was an honor to spend the time with this family.
I am going to give Choppiness on High Seas fa very well deserved five plus stars. I highly recommend it or readers who love to read family sagas and adult fiction. I would be interested in reading more books from Arvind Wadhera in the future. I believe this one should not be missed.
I received an advanced reader digital copy of Arvind Wadhera's Choppiness on High Seas from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.
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