Petals!

When I began to read Mehak Daleh's debut novel, "And the Roses Bled", I could feel a chill around me, as though the dark narrative is casting its shadows while the characters came to life, particularly the little girls. I found myself looking behind my shoulders. I also liked the subtle ways through which the novel's gripping narrative turns many cliches about crime thrillers upside down. " Kids know things....they do. But sometimes they refuse to accept or acknowledge what they feel uncomfortable with. They refuse to see it. It is survival. The child has to survive. So, they block things. "  The story revolves around a catastrophe that strikes the lives of two little girls. The twins, Nina and Alisha, are happy little girls until one goes missing. What the other twin goes through is nothing less than a nightmare. You feel deeply for every emotion that Alisha is going through. She can feel everything her missing twin feels. Imagine how scary t...