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Thoreau’s saying, “to follow
confidently in the direction of your dreams and to live the life you’ve
imagined,” is the resounding mantra of the young—those not yet ensnared
by convention or who have succumbed to lives of quiet desperation. Afia
Rana, a young budding airline professional, is also marching to the
beat of her own drummer by refusing to yield to her culture’s
traditional expectations of women.
Despite strides in progress, women's rights in India are still
restrictive. Afia’s father is persistent in his demands for her to quit
her job as an air stewardess and become a housewife to a man of his
choosing. Afia rebels, however. She’s enjoying her freedom in the skies
until she meets Dhruv Tandon, the owner of a steel corporation. Afia
falls instantly for him, despite warnings from friends and family, and
soon finds out that she is carrying his child. Abandoned to the whims
of a culture that shuns and degrades unmarried mothers, Afia learns to
rise above their cruelty and unshackle herself from the man who started
her down that path.
Using apt poetic literary descriptions and vivid imagery, Fernandez
paints a bittersweet picture of the hardships of being a young, single
mother in India. The author does a fantastic job of getting the reader
to empathize with Afia’s struggle to survive in a society that refuses
to show her compassion (in addition to her own child struggling to find
his identity in a fatherless environment).
While Steel Fetters is
primarily a character-driven story, there’s also forbidden love,
kidnappings, and enough secrets to keep the reader hungering for more.
Fernandez cleverly weaves in enough action and drama to appeal to a
diverse audience.
RECOMMENDED by The US Review