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The Lights of Shantinagar by Nidhi Arora
Ultimate Blog Tour

Book Info
Genre: Contemporary, Family Saga
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Unbound
Number of Pages: 272 Pages
Publication Date: June 5, 2025
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/223593898-the-lights-of-shantinagar
Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/b6f80ce5-c583-4b3b-8768-7f11b4399002
Amazon: https://a.co/d/h4RwcMz (Canada) https://a.co/d/gufZ2NA (USA)
https://amzn.eu/d/hb8CN9s (UK)

Blurb
The Lights of Shantinagar is a warm and lively portrait of family life set in modern India
where new philosophies are reshaping old traditions and one woman’s astute observations
can change everything.
Aspiring quantum physicist Sumi is newly married and has moved into her husband’s family
home. Here she observes that the beguilingly tranquil middle-class town of Shantinagar is
not very different from her beloved quantum world: the happenings in one house are
cryptically entangled with things next door, objects mysteriously disappear and unexpected
interactions reveal surprising truths.
As the line between right and wrong begins to blur, new discoveries force the residents of
Shantinagar to reflect on what they truly know about themselves and the ones they love.
Meanwhile, Sumi must blend logic with love to make sense of her new circumstances.

About the Author
Nidhi Arora’s stories and essays are featured in international journals and anthologies
including Best New Singaporean Short Stories, Out of Print, The Hooghly Review, QLRS,
Cha, and Popshot. She has self-published two books on Secure Attachment: A parent-child
bonding series and edited a third. More at http://www.nidhi-arora.com

My Review This book wasn’t really my style or my preferred reading material, however that does not mean others would not enjoy it so much more. Sometimes I felt some scenes were drawn out too long, and too described that my adhd brain was wanting to race ahead and skip areas. Which isn’t ideal. Could be my new perimenopausal self and feeling restless. Some days my brain is going 100miles per hour, and it’s a struggle to calm it down, to a slower rate.

It does bring you into a world of Indian culture and chai making, I learnt a few things along the way, the family dynamics and relationships were beautiful and you can even identify some of their traits and quirks in your own family members. I loved the learning and being given a visual treat of how life was for these families, using your descriptiveness and my imagination. It also dives into perceptions, secrets, traits and being human, how our own biases change how things are remembered and recalled. I walked away feeling like my mind had been opened and that’s the great thing about trying to read out of your comfort zone, you might just learn a thing or two.