If Novoneel Chakraborty had not been open to staying in touch with his many fans, he may never had gotten the idea to work on his current trilogy. The first book in the series titled Marry Me, Stranger came out last year and from the title of the second that released at Starmark over the weekend — All Yours, Stranger — the common denominator of thrill is fairly clear. With his highly anticipated final book in the series planned for a December release, the Mumbai-based writer tells us that none of this would have been possible without a certain ‘phone friend’.
“She’s been reading my books for years now and we’ve also kept in touch on social media,” he lets on. “But one day, as we got to talking, it suddenly dawned on me that aside from conversing on my books, I hardly knew a thing about her,” he goes on. And that’s how the idea to do for the ‘stranger’ trilogy was first sparked.
As for the 28-year-old’s romance with psychological thrillers, a genre that most of his recent releases seem to fall into, he offers with a shrug, “I’m a restless guy.” With every re-read before a book is published, Novoneel tells us candidly, “It’s the twists and turns that really keep me hooked.” And from what fans have to say, we don’t doubt for a minute that the formula works.
In the city for the first time, thanks to a promising Chennai following for Marry Me, Stranger, the author is excited and shares that his road map of twists and turns for this day-long trip will probably take him to Marina Beach.
All Yours, Stranger published by Penguin Random House is priced at Rs 175.
Near-Death Experience
If you’ve ever wondered why Novoneel’s books rarely have a happy ending — it’s possibly
because of a rather dark real life tale that happened to him when he was just 22. “There was a collision between two cars,” he recalls, his voice getting softer and far away. “When I woke up, I thought I was in heaven,” he tells us with a nervous laugh. “But the milky white I was seeing in my haze were really the bandages on my eyes.” Since then, most of his stories have explored loss in some form and while we do enjoy a happening ending on paper, we’re just glad that Novoneel got his in real life.