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Those Delicious Letters
SOON TO BE A MAJOR WEB SERIES
From the bestselling author of Bong Mom's Cookbook, comes a novel about food, family and love
Soon after her fortieth birthday, Shubha starts receiving letters with traditional Bengali recipes from a mysterious lady in Calcutta claiming to be her grandmother. Never one for cooking, but drawn by the nostalgia and lured into the delicious world of forgotten food, Shubha starts experimenting with the recipes. The dishes are an instant hit with everyone she knows -- everyone except Sameer, her very busy husband.
As Shubha tries to find the mysterious writer and her own life begins to unravel, the notes from a bygone era give her courage to take a second chance at life.
Torn between the taste of success that the letters bring her, and the need to save her marriage, Shubha must find the perfect recipe for love.
From the bestselling author of Bong Mom's Cookbook, comes a novel about food, family and love
Soon after her fortieth birthday, Shubha starts receiving letters with traditional Bengali recipes from a mysterious lady in Calcutta claiming to be her grandmother. Never one for cooking, but drawn by the nostalgia and lured into the delicious world of forgotten food, Shubha starts experimenting with the recipes. The dishes are an instant hit with everyone she knows -- everyone except Sameer, her very busy husband.
As Shubha tries to find the mysterious writer and her own life begins to unravel, the notes from a bygone era give her courage to take a second chance at life.
Torn between the taste of success that the letters bring her, and the need to save her marriage, Shubha must find the perfect recipe for love.
264 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2020
24 people are currently reading
493 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
August 16, 2020
A forty-year old NRI, Shubha Sen-Gupta is mother to two daughters and wife to Sameer, a very busy, successful techie. Shubha struggles with the everyday problems of the average middle-aged, middle-class housewife, of which a good marriage gone gradually lacklustre and distant seems to have become one. And then one day, out of the blue, an old lady from Kolkata sends Shubha the first of several letters, each reminiscing about the past, filled with nostalgia and recipes for well-loved Bengali delicacies…
I visit Sandeepa Datta Mukherjee’s blog warily: on past occasions, while looking specifically for one recipe and with the intention to leave the blog after checking that one recipe, I have found myself spending hours immersed in her writing. She writes lovingly and wittily about food, about life, about Bengal—and her writing sucks you in, she makes you want to go on reading.
So, I ended up being grateful that I started reading Those Delicious Letters on a weekend night: because I could happily devote Saturday night and most of Sunday to finishing off this book. I put the rest of my life on hold because I couldn’t bear to stop.
The story is a simple, straightforward one, an interweaving of two stories: that of Shubha (which forms the main story), and in a somewhat more concise form, the story of Didan, the shadowy old lady whose voice, remembering her own youth and marriage, comes through in her letters. Two lives, seeming very different from each other, but perhaps more alike than dissimilar after all.
The simple sweetness of the story is matched by the heartwarming sweetness of most of the characters—of whom Shubha is especially endearing. She is the narrator, and I found her very relatable: not as perfect as most of the crowd she moves in, trying but not always succeeding, rather nutty, and so very real.
The letters from Didan were a delightful glimpse into the Bengal of the past: its traditions, its scenery, its seasons, its festivals. And the food. The food was mouthwatering, the descriptions making me want to rush out to shop for all the groceries and start cooking. (Fortunately, detailed recipes are provided, one per chapter, to help readers like me get their Bong food fix).
If you like food novels, this one’s a must-read. Fun, engrossing, light-hearted—and truly delicious.
I visit Sandeepa Datta Mukherjee’s blog warily: on past occasions, while looking specifically for one recipe and with the intention to leave the blog after checking that one recipe, I have found myself spending hours immersed in her writing. She writes lovingly and wittily about food, about life, about Bengal—and her writing sucks you in, she makes you want to go on reading.
So, I ended up being grateful that I started reading Those Delicious Letters on a weekend night: because I could happily devote Saturday night and most of Sunday to finishing off this book. I put the rest of my life on hold because I couldn’t bear to stop.
The story is a simple, straightforward one, an interweaving of two stories: that of Shubha (which forms the main story), and in a somewhat more concise form, the story of Didan, the shadowy old lady whose voice, remembering her own youth and marriage, comes through in her letters. Two lives, seeming very different from each other, but perhaps more alike than dissimilar after all.
The simple sweetness of the story is matched by the heartwarming sweetness of most of the characters—of whom Shubha is especially endearing. She is the narrator, and I found her very relatable: not as perfect as most of the crowd she moves in, trying but not always succeeding, rather nutty, and so very real.
The letters from Didan were a delightful glimpse into the Bengal of the past: its traditions, its scenery, its seasons, its festivals. And the food. The food was mouthwatering, the descriptions making me want to rush out to shop for all the groceries and start cooking. (Fortunately, detailed recipes are provided, one per chapter, to help readers like me get their Bong food fix).
If you like food novels, this one’s a must-read. Fun, engrossing, light-hearted—and truly delicious.
December 4, 2020
With each new season, a letter arrives and the sweet entanglement of love, life and food grows thick. The splattering rain jamming with the hot sweltering mustard oil cradling the freshly coated eggplant fritters during heavy rain, freshly steamed pristine white dumplings pregnant with coconut jaggery filling during chilly winters and tangy mango chutney during clumsy summer are few of close food memories that are lodged deep in my mind since childhood.
In her forties, Shubha is caught between two demanding daughters, workaholic husband and her work in a foreign land. One day she receives a blue missive laden with nostalgia, traditions, recipes and a passionate affair which sets into motion a chain of events that changes her life.
Those delicious letters is a beautiful amalgamation of past and present, the undying ties of common food love that survived generations. The engaging storyline kept me glued to the book till the very end. The fine detailing and well developed characters breathed life into the tale. The recipes are well detailed and ingredients are easy to find.
I would love to recommend the book to the readers who has a knack of cooking and love fiction.Enjoyed trying out the lovely recipes.
In her forties, Shubha is caught between two demanding daughters, workaholic husband and her work in a foreign land. One day she receives a blue missive laden with nostalgia, traditions, recipes and a passionate affair which sets into motion a chain of events that changes her life.
Those delicious letters is a beautiful amalgamation of past and present, the undying ties of common food love that survived generations. The engaging storyline kept me glued to the book till the very end. The fine detailing and well developed characters breathed life into the tale. The recipes are well detailed and ingredients are easy to find.
I would love to recommend the book to the readers who has a knack of cooking and love fiction.Enjoyed trying out the lovely recipes.
December 8, 2020
loved it!read it some months ago but i still think of it. light, entertaining, hertwarming. and the best part—recipes (looong, the way I like them) at the end of every chapter
September 16, 2022
Cannot stand the bitchy vibes.
December 8, 2020
Beautiful!!! Lovely! Loved all the food talks. Loved the recipes. Though the end was a bit soppy loved it too
March 16, 2021
Oh boy! I didn't expect to enjoy this so much. Especially since the ending was ruined with my partner telling me what happens when he read the book first.
But, I loved reading this so much. Because it has to do with food. This one was one delicious read that had its heart in the right place. Well executed, tightly paced and absolutely delicious.
Detailed review coming soon.
But, I loved reading this so much. Because it has to do with food. This one was one delicious read that had its heart in the right place. Well executed, tightly paced and absolutely delicious.
Detailed review coming soon.
November 7, 2020
A very touching, humorous and hands down an enjoyable read!
I loved how the author stayed true to her name as a cook and included so many amazing recipes and gelled it in the story so effortlessly. I am not a person who likes to cook but this book made me want to give it a try, especially to try and learn my mother’s and grandmother’s recipes that I’ve heard so much about. This is what I love about good books (like this one), there is so much the reader take back with them and find themselves as a changed human altogether after they have finished reading it. It is often the very complicated ones or the extremely heartbreaking ones that make it to my top 10 reads (list) of the year but I have a strong feeling this one is going to make it to that list at the end of this one.
Complete review on:
my link text
I loved how the author stayed true to her name as a cook and included so many amazing recipes and gelled it in the story so effortlessly. I am not a person who likes to cook but this book made me want to give it a try, especially to try and learn my mother’s and grandmother’s recipes that I’ve heard so much about. This is what I love about good books (like this one), there is so much the reader take back with them and find themselves as a changed human altogether after they have finished reading it. It is often the very complicated ones or the extremely heartbreaking ones that make it to my top 10 reads (list) of the year but I have a strong feeling this one is going to make it to that list at the end of this one.
Complete review on:
my link text
October 17, 2020
Here is a book that makes me feel more Bengali than I already am. Here is a book that has again filled my heart with so many flavours and odours of longing, childhood, spices, warmth and condiments.
In a way, this book is pivoted around cooking. Cooking with its myriad of savoury tastes and colourful ingredients. But for any Indian household, especially in Bengal, cooking is an emotion it itself. Every occasion calls for cooking—be it sorrow, ecstasy or melancholy. Through recipes and beyond, Sandeepa has painted a canvas encrusted with Bengali cultural highlights, that uphold the essential hues and shades that makes a Bengali in heart and soul.
Th protagonist, Shubha—isn’t the typical Bengali stereotypical household woman. She lives abroad, can’t cook much at all, struggles with managing the house, often stresses and burns herself out. This is her story to journeying down her ancestral Bengali roots, of recollecting figments of her past which had collected dust over the years. This is a story that celebrates the association of food and festivities to any rejoice that occurs in the Bengali residences. The recipes and cultural extravaganzas which float about in memories and nostalgia, reminding us of hungry stomachs and then full tummies.
Sandeepa constructs a very interesting premise to build her story. Her protagonist Shubha starts to get letters from an unknown elderly woman, supposedly situated in an abandoned nook of Calcutta. The letters speak of the woman’s life, her tryst with cooking and unearthing the classic traditional dishes of Bengal. With each letter also comes a detailed account of a recipe—ranging from common everyday dishes to special festive ones. Thus commences the saga of twists in Shubha’s life, as she unravels the mystery behind the letters and her life turns colourful like never before.
Home. And homecoming. To the land of roots, the land of loved ones. Sandeepa has elaborated on this magnificently, and so very subtly too. While reading this book, I could reverify some of the haziest edges of some of my fuzziest warm blissful feelings.
In one line, I will say this book made me happy. Not the laugh out loud kind of happy, but the satisfactory kind of happy. The happiness of good homemade food, the happiness of basking in the afternoon sun, the happiness of homecoming, the happiness of festivals.
Thanks HarperCollins India for the copy.
In a way, this book is pivoted around cooking. Cooking with its myriad of savoury tastes and colourful ingredients. But for any Indian household, especially in Bengal, cooking is an emotion it itself. Every occasion calls for cooking—be it sorrow, ecstasy or melancholy. Through recipes and beyond, Sandeepa has painted a canvas encrusted with Bengali cultural highlights, that uphold the essential hues and shades that makes a Bengali in heart and soul.
Th protagonist, Shubha—isn’t the typical Bengali stereotypical household woman. She lives abroad, can’t cook much at all, struggles with managing the house, often stresses and burns herself out. This is her story to journeying down her ancestral Bengali roots, of recollecting figments of her past which had collected dust over the years. This is a story that celebrates the association of food and festivities to any rejoice that occurs in the Bengali residences. The recipes and cultural extravaganzas which float about in memories and nostalgia, reminding us of hungry stomachs and then full tummies.
Sandeepa constructs a very interesting premise to build her story. Her protagonist Shubha starts to get letters from an unknown elderly woman, supposedly situated in an abandoned nook of Calcutta. The letters speak of the woman’s life, her tryst with cooking and unearthing the classic traditional dishes of Bengal. With each letter also comes a detailed account of a recipe—ranging from common everyday dishes to special festive ones. Thus commences the saga of twists in Shubha’s life, as she unravels the mystery behind the letters and her life turns colourful like never before.
Home. And homecoming. To the land of roots, the land of loved ones. Sandeepa has elaborated on this magnificently, and so very subtly too. While reading this book, I could reverify some of the haziest edges of some of my fuzziest warm blissful feelings.
In one line, I will say this book made me happy. Not the laugh out loud kind of happy, but the satisfactory kind of happy. The happiness of good homemade food, the happiness of basking in the afternoon sun, the happiness of homecoming, the happiness of festivals.
Thanks HarperCollins India for the copy.
September 29, 2020
This book, Those Delicious Letters by Sandeepa Datta Mukherjee came as a fresh breeze of spring! I loved the book. The main protagonist Shubha, is someone I loved so much, being a Bengali who has never actually lived in Bengal, these things hit me hard. The letters by a mysterious woman calling herself Didan (grandma) is something I began missing! I was very close to my grandma and the nostalgia was hurting.
The warm letters filled with delicious recipes, made me miss my roots, my mom's cooking, my grandma's voice and smiles. I love cooking, the recipes mentioned are a treasure, and thank you for such a heartfelt, nostalgic read.
This book is a must read for all. Its filled with so much love and honesty. The details, the back story, relationship between the couple everything is something we all should read, as there is so much to learn.
🍂🍂🍂
I am definitely buying the other book and reading it. I will be looking forward to your releases. 😍😍
The warm letters filled with delicious recipes, made me miss my roots, my mom's cooking, my grandma's voice and smiles. I love cooking, the recipes mentioned are a treasure, and thank you for such a heartfelt, nostalgic read.
This book is a must read for all. Its filled with so much love and honesty. The details, the back story, relationship between the couple everything is something we all should read, as there is so much to learn.
🍂🍂🍂
I am definitely buying the other book and reading it. I will be looking forward to your releases. 😍😍
April 27, 2021
Here is a book that makes me believe that I'm not wrong if I say food could be one’s foundation for strengthening relationships – family , marriage or otherwise. This book is a proof for the saying, “One can never forget their roots''
I would deflect from the fact that I'm more of every part of India rather than a Bengali. But I always craved to bring the Bangali within me. This feeling was long forlorn and dusted in the pile of “one day… “ dreams. As a child, it never mattered to me, what I was or how much I was intertwined through the distinct variation of cultures. I must admit, maturity and understanding grows with age. I have slowly started to spread my hands to catch upon the uncaught layers of my existence. I'm slowly trying to make firm interactions with my fondest memories in the land, with its people and culture through various means. And, oh god the more I indulge in being a bangali the more I slip into the rich silky textures of warmth, familiarity and homeliness.
With this feeling kept in mind, I picked up ‘Those Delicious Letters’ by Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta during the time of Poila Boishakh, Noboborsho as I was sure it couldn’t get more Bangali than this. Perhaps I was eyeing on this gorgeous book for a long time and I couldn’t really resist buying it one fine day.
Those Delicious Letters is a warm read with the same sweet feeling of homecoming and surrounded by love, care and good food originated from the home land. You feel a tinge of longing to see your grandmother, have a moment with her as you read the book. Here letters of love and recipes are delivered from a grandmother, wrongly addressed to Shubha. Didan, is our typical grandmother loving , caring, concerned and nurturing her children till her last breath. Didan’s letters are filled with stories and snippets from her life and the raw love of Dadu and herself. But for Shubha, the protagonist, its all wrong and mistaken. She feels like she hasn’t lived her life. Shubha has a pretty offbeat life- not the worst but not the best life she imagines. She has to handle beautiful teens girls, Piyu and Riya as her daughters. But Shubha isn’t the Bangali bou we imagine, she can't cook, pretty modern, trying to live a good life in the US.
These letters bring in freshness in Shubha’s life. She feels nostalgic and parallely a pang of past memories and the city carries. Shubha ‘s life is fragranced with the smell of rustic Bengali ingredients and she finds herself passionate for the art of cooking. Later, Shubha feels grateful for the letters. Amidst the struggles in her publishing house, Shubha finds solace in Didan’s letters and slowly we sense a changed Shubha. A story that warms your heart and respites your inner native longing. Must read!
I would deflect from the fact that I'm more of every part of India rather than a Bengali. But I always craved to bring the Bangali within me. This feeling was long forlorn and dusted in the pile of “one day… “ dreams. As a child, it never mattered to me, what I was or how much I was intertwined through the distinct variation of cultures. I must admit, maturity and understanding grows with age. I have slowly started to spread my hands to catch upon the uncaught layers of my existence. I'm slowly trying to make firm interactions with my fondest memories in the land, with its people and culture through various means. And, oh god the more I indulge in being a bangali the more I slip into the rich silky textures of warmth, familiarity and homeliness.
With this feeling kept in mind, I picked up ‘Those Delicious Letters’ by Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta during the time of Poila Boishakh, Noboborsho as I was sure it couldn’t get more Bangali than this. Perhaps I was eyeing on this gorgeous book for a long time and I couldn’t really resist buying it one fine day.
Those Delicious Letters is a warm read with the same sweet feeling of homecoming and surrounded by love, care and good food originated from the home land. You feel a tinge of longing to see your grandmother, have a moment with her as you read the book. Here letters of love and recipes are delivered from a grandmother, wrongly addressed to Shubha. Didan, is our typical grandmother loving , caring, concerned and nurturing her children till her last breath. Didan’s letters are filled with stories and snippets from her life and the raw love of Dadu and herself. But for Shubha, the protagonist, its all wrong and mistaken. She feels like she hasn’t lived her life. Shubha has a pretty offbeat life- not the worst but not the best life she imagines. She has to handle beautiful teens girls, Piyu and Riya as her daughters. But Shubha isn’t the Bangali bou we imagine, she can't cook, pretty modern, trying to live a good life in the US.
These letters bring in freshness in Shubha’s life. She feels nostalgic and parallely a pang of past memories and the city carries. Shubha ‘s life is fragranced with the smell of rustic Bengali ingredients and she finds herself passionate for the art of cooking. Later, Shubha feels grateful for the letters. Amidst the struggles in her publishing house, Shubha finds solace in Didan’s letters and slowly we sense a changed Shubha. A story that warms your heart and respites your inner native longing. Must read!
October 13, 2020
I recently finished ‘Those Delicious Letters’ - a story about food, the rekindling of relationships, the search for one’s true vocation and last but not least - the author’s ode to Bengal.
•
When I started the novel I expected there to be lots of talk about food and of course there was. But there was a whole lot more.
The book is divided into twelve chapters and each follows the Bengali lunisolar calendar year. In each of the chapters we are introduced to Shubha’s story.
Shubha is a forty something mother of two teenage girls, an ex architect, living in the USA. She is a partner in a floundering publishing company - a company that is in such bad shape that they can’t afford more than one topping for their pizza parties. Shubha’s husband is so busy working at a tech firm and having late nights that she suspects him of having an affair. Shubha’s herself is struggling to find the meaning of her life when every month she has a letter posted to her, from an unknown old lady in Kolkata who signs herself off as ‘Didan’ or grandmother. Since, Shubha’s own grandmother is no longer alive, she wonders why she might be the recipient of these wonderful letters. Didan talks evocatively of the seasons, her personal love story, of food and in each letter there is a reference to one very special Bengali dish. Each chapter concludes with a detailed recipe of the dish mentioned.
•
As the year unfurls, Shubha’s story and that of Didan’s develop in parallel. We are drawn into the mystery of these most delicious letters. Slowly, these letters play a big role in moulding Shubha’s future. But firstly she must learn of the sender’s identity...
•
One of the main features that I enjoyed about the story was the structure. I thought it was most ingenious to incorporate Shubha’s story, with the Bengali calendar year, with Didan’s letters and a recipe.
•
Although Shubha’s story was told in a quite casual tone and spoke of a contemporary story (usually not my favourite thing) what really drew me to the story was the beauty of Didan’s letters. As a Bengali myself, I could identify with the author’s love for the food and culture of Bengali. I think this love becomes particularly bittersweet and enhanced if you are a Bengali living abroad and you miss your family and homeland.
You will enjoy this book if you love reading about food, want to learn about Bengali culture or want to try some authentic Bengali recipes. Congratulations to Sandeepa for authoring a lovely book - a real ode to Bengal and thank you for sending me this book to review.
•
When I started the novel I expected there to be lots of talk about food and of course there was. But there was a whole lot more.
The book is divided into twelve chapters and each follows the Bengali lunisolar calendar year. In each of the chapters we are introduced to Shubha’s story.
Shubha is a forty something mother of two teenage girls, an ex architect, living in the USA. She is a partner in a floundering publishing company - a company that is in such bad shape that they can’t afford more than one topping for their pizza parties. Shubha’s husband is so busy working at a tech firm and having late nights that she suspects him of having an affair. Shubha’s herself is struggling to find the meaning of her life when every month she has a letter posted to her, from an unknown old lady in Kolkata who signs herself off as ‘Didan’ or grandmother. Since, Shubha’s own grandmother is no longer alive, she wonders why she might be the recipient of these wonderful letters. Didan talks evocatively of the seasons, her personal love story, of food and in each letter there is a reference to one very special Bengali dish. Each chapter concludes with a detailed recipe of the dish mentioned.
•
As the year unfurls, Shubha’s story and that of Didan’s develop in parallel. We are drawn into the mystery of these most delicious letters. Slowly, these letters play a big role in moulding Shubha’s future. But firstly she must learn of the sender’s identity...
•
One of the main features that I enjoyed about the story was the structure. I thought it was most ingenious to incorporate Shubha’s story, with the Bengali calendar year, with Didan’s letters and a recipe.
•
Although Shubha’s story was told in a quite casual tone and spoke of a contemporary story (usually not my favourite thing) what really drew me to the story was the beauty of Didan’s letters. As a Bengali myself, I could identify with the author’s love for the food and culture of Bengali. I think this love becomes particularly bittersweet and enhanced if you are a Bengali living abroad and you miss your family and homeland.
You will enjoy this book if you love reading about food, want to learn about Bengali culture or want to try some authentic Bengali recipes. Congratulations to Sandeepa for authoring a lovely book - a real ode to Bengal and thank you for sending me this book to review.
June 19, 2021
The slow death of letter writing is a sad ramification of modernization.
I am a big fan of letters. Yes, instant messaging is great, but letters always feel more genuine.
It's proof someone made considerable effort to write them. It means you matter to that person.
Moreover, the additional predictability makes it more exciting. You don't know when you'll receive the next one, you can't be sure whether the receiver read it or other, you are unsure whether the next letter will be long or short, and so on.
All these things make the experience more meaningful unlike our social media apps today which are built on the idea of instant gratification.
Receiving letters from a strange old woman talking about her peculiar life long with a new recipe in every letter. The letters which Shubha is not supposed to read but eventually does. She knows it's incorrect yet can't resist the temptation.
In all a sweet wholesome read. Although I found full recipes after every chapter a little irritating. Readers who decide to cook may like them.
Anyone looking for a light book should definitely give this a try.
I am a big fan of letters. Yes, instant messaging is great, but letters always feel more genuine.
It's proof someone made considerable effort to write them. It means you matter to that person.
Moreover, the additional predictability makes it more exciting. You don't know when you'll receive the next one, you can't be sure whether the receiver read it or other, you are unsure whether the next letter will be long or short, and so on.
All these things make the experience more meaningful unlike our social media apps today which are built on the idea of instant gratification.
Receiving letters from a strange old woman talking about her peculiar life long with a new recipe in every letter. The letters which Shubha is not supposed to read but eventually does. She knows it's incorrect yet can't resist the temptation.
In all a sweet wholesome read. Although I found full recipes after every chapter a little irritating. Readers who decide to cook may like them.
Anyone looking for a light book should definitely give this a try.
October 3, 2020
Those delicious letters by Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta' is a novel about food (my parallel first love along-with books), home, marriage and motherhood.
📖
Shubha, the protagonist, a forty-year-old NRI, has just celebrated her fortieth birthday. And soon after she starts receiving letters from Kolkata written by an old lady. The several letters remind Shubha of the past, of the food, of which her pallette has lost taste.
📖
I like how simple the story has been sketched to layout the struggles of a working-housewife. Subha is a character which every woman can relate. Her simplicity, heart-warming nature and how she blends in the nostalgia of the past was comforting to read. Especially when coupled with food metaphors which is something I read for the first time in any novel.
📖
The binding factor of the novel is parallel stories of Subha's not so perfect married life and the mystery behind the letters from Didan. For the long period, instead of searching the woman behind those letters, she started delving into them. As if those are the missing puzzles of her life.
📖
I have never been to Bengal or nor has tasted any traditional dishes from there. But the letters received by the protagonist give a larger window to look back into the cultural aspect of the Bengal and its food, which was exciting to read.
📖
Another aspect which I loved about the novel is the recipes at the end of each chapter. I will surely try some.
📖
Writing and narration are simple, creates a comfy ambience for its reader. I would suggest to read it on bright, calming afternoons paired with a hot cup of adrak-wali chai.
📖
I give this book a 4 🌟 /5 🌟
📖
Shubha, the protagonist, a forty-year-old NRI, has just celebrated her fortieth birthday. And soon after she starts receiving letters from Kolkata written by an old lady. The several letters remind Shubha of the past, of the food, of which her pallette has lost taste.
📖
I like how simple the story has been sketched to layout the struggles of a working-housewife. Subha is a character which every woman can relate. Her simplicity, heart-warming nature and how she blends in the nostalgia of the past was comforting to read. Especially when coupled with food metaphors which is something I read for the first time in any novel.
📖
The binding factor of the novel is parallel stories of Subha's not so perfect married life and the mystery behind the letters from Didan. For the long period, instead of searching the woman behind those letters, she started delving into them. As if those are the missing puzzles of her life.
📖
I have never been to Bengal or nor has tasted any traditional dishes from there. But the letters received by the protagonist give a larger window to look back into the cultural aspect of the Bengal and its food, which was exciting to read.
📖
Another aspect which I loved about the novel is the recipes at the end of each chapter. I will surely try some.
📖
Writing and narration are simple, creates a comfy ambience for its reader. I would suggest to read it on bright, calming afternoons paired with a hot cup of adrak-wali chai.
📖
I give this book a 4 🌟 /5 🌟
September 30, 2020
When you get the right mix of alu sedho bhaat with ghee and a dim sedho on a hungry stomach, the exact filling was replicated in this book for me. While Shubha (lakhshmi) Sengupta starts receiving mysterious letters from an unknown didan residing at a non existent Panchanantala lane, Baranagar, Kolkata 700 036( Thank you for immortalising by pin code 😭😭, I understand the emotional connect! ) after her not so moralizing 40th birthday!
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She believes the letters are not for her with no said relatives of the said description is there but as she stumbles through life with her over busy husband Sameer, teenage daughters Piyu and Riya, a crumbling career as 20 percent partner in a publishing start up and most importantly a group of frenemies who i guess i dnt need to broaden on - these letters pick her up and drop her straight into her past of delicious home cooked heritage bengali recipes!
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The letters not only to Subha but to any reader ( specifically a BONG ) will spell magic and as we go through Didans life in the passing bengali writu s (seasons), the food and her story engulfs us into pure nostalgia!
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These letters will ultimately spell good luck and a new start for our protagonist! Interspersed with the recipes of old heritage bengali recipes in original this book has a bit of love in every page and hope in every corner!
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Will Subha find who writes these letters? How will didan s life spell out? How does these letters change her life! Go read this light read to find the answers and cook with it a little too!
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The title and cover is on point! The language flawless, humorous!
Thank you @bongmom_cookbook for the copy!
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She believes the letters are not for her with no said relatives of the said description is there but as she stumbles through life with her over busy husband Sameer, teenage daughters Piyu and Riya, a crumbling career as 20 percent partner in a publishing start up and most importantly a group of frenemies who i guess i dnt need to broaden on - these letters pick her up and drop her straight into her past of delicious home cooked heritage bengali recipes!
.
The letters not only to Subha but to any reader ( specifically a BONG ) will spell magic and as we go through Didans life in the passing bengali writu s (seasons), the food and her story engulfs us into pure nostalgia!
.
These letters will ultimately spell good luck and a new start for our protagonist! Interspersed with the recipes of old heritage bengali recipes in original this book has a bit of love in every page and hope in every corner!
.
Will Subha find who writes these letters? How will didan s life spell out? How does these letters change her life! Go read this light read to find the answers and cook with it a little too!
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The title and cover is on point! The language flawless, humorous!
Thank you @bongmom_cookbook for the copy!
.
.
November 30, 2020
Those Delicious Letters is a heartwarming, uplifting women's fiction that I think every woman would find herself relating to the story and the characters. Especially when you are a parent and/or reached a certain age where life only gets a little tougher and boredom is all you could live with.
Shubha is in such a state where her husband is too busy for her and her daughters are growing up fast and does not require her assistance anymore. Her work is monotonous and her friends are almost always pompous of their own lives and she's tired of hearing them sing their praises. And, she lives far away from where she called home.
So when the letters claiming to be her grandmother's start to arrive, Shubha begins to realise she's missing her rich bengali culture that she grew up with. Also, she starts cooking which she rarely does these days.
If you love mouthwatering traditional recipes and an uplifting tale with matured characters in it, you will be enjoying this book as much as I did. I cannot wait to try the vegitarian recipes from the book. Trust me, they're very detailed and utterly delicious!
Shubha is in such a state where her husband is too busy for her and her daughters are growing up fast and does not require her assistance anymore. Her work is monotonous and her friends are almost always pompous of their own lives and she's tired of hearing them sing their praises. And, she lives far away from where she called home.
So when the letters claiming to be her grandmother's start to arrive, Shubha begins to realise she's missing her rich bengali culture that she grew up with. Also, she starts cooking which she rarely does these days.
If you love mouthwatering traditional recipes and an uplifting tale with matured characters in it, you will be enjoying this book as much as I did. I cannot wait to try the vegitarian recipes from the book. Trust me, they're very detailed and utterly delicious!
December 3, 2020
I first encountered Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta virtually in her avatar as the Bong Mom, via her blog and then her cookbook. I was charmed by both.
When this novel came my way, I wondered: Would she be able to replicate the chatty, colloquial warmth of her blog through fiction? How easily would she make the transition to the nitty-gritty of plot and character? Would she hold my attention to the very end?
The first page was reassuring: mired in the absurd, bringing the main players alive in a trice, setting the base mood. As the plot rolled though an ‘imploding’ marriage, a mortgage, a small publishing firm with no bestseller in sight, NRI issues of cultural identity, an unexpected element wafts in via the mailbag. What could it be? A series of handwritten letters on old-fashioned Indian aerogrammes from Didan, addressed to Moni.
Told in the first person, Shubha (at 40) does not recall a Didan from her growing days in Kolkata. Should she read the missives or return them to the sender? There lies the crux of the plot, the ground for twists and turns. Besides, Shubha has never been called Moni. Not even as a daak naam.
As Shubha’s story intertwines inextricably with Didan’s life, she abandons her routine weekly menu to experiment with Didan’s traditional Bengali recipes. Her kitchen becomes the landscape where memories are seasoned with love, hope, warring emotions. Will this save her marriage? Or expand her social circle?
The novel is fast-paced. It piques the curiosity. The quirkiness of the ending made me smile, for it was unanticipated. Perhaps even startling, but plausibly so.
This fictional debut melds together love and loss, longing and belonging – and underlines with joy the essence of being Bengali, especially among the NRI community.
A witty mélange of storytelling interspersed with recipes, this novel offers elements that every Bengali (and honorary Bengalis) will savour with delight.
When this novel came my way, I wondered: Would she be able to replicate the chatty, colloquial warmth of her blog through fiction? How easily would she make the transition to the nitty-gritty of plot and character? Would she hold my attention to the very end?
The first page was reassuring: mired in the absurd, bringing the main players alive in a trice, setting the base mood. As the plot rolled though an ‘imploding’ marriage, a mortgage, a small publishing firm with no bestseller in sight, NRI issues of cultural identity, an unexpected element wafts in via the mailbag. What could it be? A series of handwritten letters on old-fashioned Indian aerogrammes from Didan, addressed to Moni.
Told in the first person, Shubha (at 40) does not recall a Didan from her growing days in Kolkata. Should she read the missives or return them to the sender? There lies the crux of the plot, the ground for twists and turns. Besides, Shubha has never been called Moni. Not even as a daak naam.
As Shubha’s story intertwines inextricably with Didan’s life, she abandons her routine weekly menu to experiment with Didan’s traditional Bengali recipes. Her kitchen becomes the landscape where memories are seasoned with love, hope, warring emotions. Will this save her marriage? Or expand her social circle?
The novel is fast-paced. It piques the curiosity. The quirkiness of the ending made me smile, for it was unanticipated. Perhaps even startling, but plausibly so.
This fictional debut melds together love and loss, longing and belonging – and underlines with joy the essence of being Bengali, especially among the NRI community.
A witty mélange of storytelling interspersed with recipes, this novel offers elements that every Bengali (and honorary Bengalis) will savour with delight.
October 2, 2020
This book has moved me beyond words, fans every probashi’s secret longings of home, familiarity and some age old recipes. What an amazingly well written piece of fiction, stringing together traditional recipes and rousing so many different emotions. What i loved is the narrative which was not predictable and it truly brought back memories of my grandmother cooking dimer devil or peethey. My longing for home intensified and while publishing this review i realised that a book that is a bengali cooking Bible to me: Bong Moms cook book. Was actually written by the same author!! I simply love her, her recipes and her effortless writing.
If you want access to Bengali culture and cooking both these books are a gem!
If you want access to Bengali culture and cooking both these books are a gem!
December 5, 2020
Full review on my blog:
https://blog.medhaapps.com/2020/12/bo...
Shubhalakshmi Sengupta aka Shubha, a Bengali woman residing in the US with her husband Sameer and two daughters just turned forty. To dedicate more time for her kids, Shubha has quit her successful career as an architect and is now a co-founder of an upcoming publishing house. As she grapples with cold behavior from her husband and a growing distance in their marriage, comparison and critique from friends who have their dream jobs, Shubha receives inland letters from an unknown woman - letters addressed to a certain ‘Moni’, granddaughter of this lady from India.
The lady who now has issues remembering day-to-day events intends to hand over her treasured Bengali recipes to Moni before her memory might give up on her. As each letter comes with the lady recounting her life events and one yummy recipe attached, Shubha who was never a serious cook, now starts trying her hands at this mystery woman’s recipes. Everyone who taste Shubha’s food are extremely impressed and Shubha finds a new hidden talent in middle of her otherwise boring routine. Will Shubha be able to find out about the sender of these letters and how will these letters change her life forms the rest of the story.
Don’t we all love the trousseau, jewelry, and of course wisdom passed on in the family, especially from our grandparents. Imagine we receive treasured recipes from strangers along with their life memories – that is exactly the thought this book is built on. The story works on multiple levels – the idea of Shubha re-building her life through food, the similarity between lives of Shubha and the mystery sender and how Shubha molds her life with inspiration from those old memories she reads in the letters, the suspense of the sender’s identity, the elaborate recipes shared at end of each letter. The traditions and culture of Bengali life as seen through the sender’s eyes, the Bengali delicacies, the Bengali calendar year for the festivities – everything about the Bengali way of life is well captured in the story.
Even for a person who would have never cooked in their life, Shubha’s cooking adventures will prompt them to try their hand. A cookbook with traditional food recipes, a heartwarming story of a middle aged woman discovering herself through food, a trip of nostalgia to the Bengali life in the past – this story is a complete package of all these emotions and hence highly recommended!
https://blog.medhaapps.com/2020/12/bo...
Shubhalakshmi Sengupta aka Shubha, a Bengali woman residing in the US with her husband Sameer and two daughters just turned forty. To dedicate more time for her kids, Shubha has quit her successful career as an architect and is now a co-founder of an upcoming publishing house. As she grapples with cold behavior from her husband and a growing distance in their marriage, comparison and critique from friends who have their dream jobs, Shubha receives inland letters from an unknown woman - letters addressed to a certain ‘Moni’, granddaughter of this lady from India.
The lady who now has issues remembering day-to-day events intends to hand over her treasured Bengali recipes to Moni before her memory might give up on her. As each letter comes with the lady recounting her life events and one yummy recipe attached, Shubha who was never a serious cook, now starts trying her hands at this mystery woman’s recipes. Everyone who taste Shubha’s food are extremely impressed and Shubha finds a new hidden talent in middle of her otherwise boring routine. Will Shubha be able to find out about the sender of these letters and how will these letters change her life forms the rest of the story.
Don’t we all love the trousseau, jewelry, and of course wisdom passed on in the family, especially from our grandparents. Imagine we receive treasured recipes from strangers along with their life memories – that is exactly the thought this book is built on. The story works on multiple levels – the idea of Shubha re-building her life through food, the similarity between lives of Shubha and the mystery sender and how Shubha molds her life with inspiration from those old memories she reads in the letters, the suspense of the sender’s identity, the elaborate recipes shared at end of each letter. The traditions and culture of Bengali life as seen through the sender’s eyes, the Bengali delicacies, the Bengali calendar year for the festivities – everything about the Bengali way of life is well captured in the story.
Even for a person who would have never cooked in their life, Shubha’s cooking adventures will prompt them to try their hand. A cookbook with traditional food recipes, a heartwarming story of a middle aged woman discovering herself through food, a trip of nostalgia to the Bengali life in the past – this story is a complete package of all these emotions and hence highly recommended!
September 2, 2020
I got particularly hooked to the book since the protagonist had just turned 40 as well! Though I do not have 2 daughters and I work a boring content development job, I could identify with some of the angst and upsets in Shubha's life! At this point in her life, she starts receiving beautifully written inland letters from a mysterious Didan from Kolkata. While she was initially reluctant to even read the letters, her curiosity wins over and sweeps her off in a nostalgic whirlwind! The letters appear monthly and contain the story of her life and Didan always includes a delicious recipe pertaining to the season and to the events she's written about.
While Shubha wrestles through her life, worried about a workaholic husband who's mostly absent and gradually becoming distant, a job at a tiny and failing publishing company, two demanding daughters, bitchy friends, the appearance of attractive strangers and all - the letters intrigue her so much that she starts trying out the recipes that gradually connect her to her roots - memories of her own grandmother and her mother and the life she left long ago in Kolkata.
I am a regular reader of Sandeepadi's blog and I love her easy breezy style of writing. Her narrative envelopes you and takes you into her warm kitchen and you feel you are there as she adds that mango to the shrimp salad and elevates it to a flavour bomb! Or when Big Sis and Little Sis have a quibble or H-man disagrees with her technique and makes a dish by finely chopping the lau instead of having chunky bits - you are there laughing with her and enjoying the scene in front of you!
Those Delicious Letters carry that easy engaging style and her storytelling does not let you put it down till you finish the whole book!
It's not just about the recipes this time, though they are as interesting and every bit as delicious, the interesting storyline and the unexpected events keep you engaged through and through! I hope you read it soon and enjoy it as much as I did.
While Shubha wrestles through her life, worried about a workaholic husband who's mostly absent and gradually becoming distant, a job at a tiny and failing publishing company, two demanding daughters, bitchy friends, the appearance of attractive strangers and all - the letters intrigue her so much that she starts trying out the recipes that gradually connect her to her roots - memories of her own grandmother and her mother and the life she left long ago in Kolkata.
I am a regular reader of Sandeepadi's blog and I love her easy breezy style of writing. Her narrative envelopes you and takes you into her warm kitchen and you feel you are there as she adds that mango to the shrimp salad and elevates it to a flavour bomb! Or when Big Sis and Little Sis have a quibble or H-man disagrees with her technique and makes a dish by finely chopping the lau instead of having chunky bits - you are there laughing with her and enjoying the scene in front of you!
Those Delicious Letters carry that easy engaging style and her storytelling does not let you put it down till you finish the whole book!
It's not just about the recipes this time, though they are as interesting and every bit as delicious, the interesting storyline and the unexpected events keep you engaged through and through! I hope you read it soon and enjoy it as much as I did.
August 26, 2020
I thought I would wait till I completed reading the book, but I guess I cannot wait to say how much I am enjoying it and I don’t want to rob other people of the pleasure this book entails by not buying it earlier.
I really enjoy your writing Sandeepa. I came across your blog a few years earlier and since then I religiously read all your posts. There is so much warmth in your writing, its filled with words and your style raises all kinds of emotions. Being a Bengali myself, I can relate to it better maybe.
My friend has a notion that all Bengalis write well. Sometimes, I want to believe her, but then I read my own writing and I think, no- that is not true.
But when I read how you write, I wish I could do it like you. Even simple things, like the food you cook every day, is told in a manner that makes the reader really feels the emotions you go through.
I started reading Those Delicious Letters and I am enjoying it so much. I just cant keep it down. Last night, I had to stop at when Sameer comes back from the UK and wants to talk and I was so anxious- What is he going to tell Shubha? But wait, if he is indeed trying to say what she thinks he is, why is he complimenting her hair? I couldn’t wait to read the next chapter. When I read it, I feel I can see Shubha, going about her work, trying to cook, talking to people, driving. Not every book makes it so easy for the reader to paint a picture in their minds. When you come across such books that do, its a feeling you want to cherish. You are one of those writers. I enjoy cooking myself, so it is a bonus for me, but even otherwise, your book is a pleasure to read.
Now I must get back to it. I do not feel like working, I must first find out, what happens with the book, what is the next recipe, what happens with Didan and Rajat….
PS: I have finished reading it and there is not one word I would like to change about what I have written earlier, except maybe wish Tagore's original writing of "bohu din dhore bohu desh ghure..." could be understood by all without the translation. I was not expecting the end I must say. I was pleasantly surprised. Over all, it is a wonderfully intimate read and fills the reader's heart with all kinds of good feelings.
I really enjoy your writing Sandeepa. I came across your blog a few years earlier and since then I religiously read all your posts. There is so much warmth in your writing, its filled with words and your style raises all kinds of emotions. Being a Bengali myself, I can relate to it better maybe.
My friend has a notion that all Bengalis write well. Sometimes, I want to believe her, but then I read my own writing and I think, no- that is not true.
But when I read how you write, I wish I could do it like you. Even simple things, like the food you cook every day, is told in a manner that makes the reader really feels the emotions you go through.
I started reading Those Delicious Letters and I am enjoying it so much. I just cant keep it down. Last night, I had to stop at when Sameer comes back from the UK and wants to talk and I was so anxious- What is he going to tell Shubha? But wait, if he is indeed trying to say what she thinks he is, why is he complimenting her hair? I couldn’t wait to read the next chapter. When I read it, I feel I can see Shubha, going about her work, trying to cook, talking to people, driving. Not every book makes it so easy for the reader to paint a picture in their minds. When you come across such books that do, its a feeling you want to cherish. You are one of those writers. I enjoy cooking myself, so it is a bonus for me, but even otherwise, your book is a pleasure to read.
Now I must get back to it. I do not feel like working, I must first find out, what happens with the book, what is the next recipe, what happens with Didan and Rajat….
PS: I have finished reading it and there is not one word I would like to change about what I have written earlier, except maybe wish Tagore's original writing of "bohu din dhore bohu desh ghure..." could be understood by all without the translation. I was not expecting the end I must say. I was pleasantly surprised. Over all, it is a wonderfully intimate read and fills the reader's heart with all kinds of good feelings.
May 11, 2021
Food brings people together on many different levels. It's nourishment of the soul and body; it's truly love."
"Books give a soul the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."
Combine these 2 quotes and what you get is Those Delicious Letters - a book that tantalizes your taste buds and fills your heart with pure love.
Shubha, a mother of 2 teenage daughters and a wife to a busy software engineer settled in USA has just turned 40. And though everything is going almost fine, a little game of ticking things from bucket list where she ends up ticking almost nothing, makes her start questioning the meaning to her life. Just as she is dealing with her husband who is always so busy and also herself who's probably going through a mid life crisis, she starts receiving letters from a mysterious sender Didan whom she doesn't know all the way from India. But the letter is filled with traditional Bengali recipes and snippets from Didan's life. Shubha who hardly enjoys cooking finds that after reading the letters, she actually starts loving to cook these delicious traditional recipes that often remind her of her mother and the times when she cooked these dishes.
Contemplating on whether to send back those letters since they don't belong to her, Shubha instead finds herself looking forward to receive them and unearthing the life of Didan that in turn is giving a meaning to her own life.
In a simple prose where you find yourself attached to the characters in the book, this book is a plate of hot khichdi on a tiring day or a piece of pizza on a relaxing day, a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly day or a tall glass of shikanji or sugarcane juice (especially for us Maharashtrians) on a hot summer day. Basically a perfect book that will calm you, relax you and soothe you in a way that you will forget all your worries.
⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5.
"Books give a soul the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything."
Combine these 2 quotes and what you get is Those Delicious Letters - a book that tantalizes your taste buds and fills your heart with pure love.
Shubha, a mother of 2 teenage daughters and a wife to a busy software engineer settled in USA has just turned 40. And though everything is going almost fine, a little game of ticking things from bucket list where she ends up ticking almost nothing, makes her start questioning the meaning to her life. Just as she is dealing with her husband who is always so busy and also herself who's probably going through a mid life crisis, she starts receiving letters from a mysterious sender Didan whom she doesn't know all the way from India. But the letter is filled with traditional Bengali recipes and snippets from Didan's life. Shubha who hardly enjoys cooking finds that after reading the letters, she actually starts loving to cook these delicious traditional recipes that often remind her of her mother and the times when she cooked these dishes.
Contemplating on whether to send back those letters since they don't belong to her, Shubha instead finds herself looking forward to receive them and unearthing the life of Didan that in turn is giving a meaning to her own life.
In a simple prose where you find yourself attached to the characters in the book, this book is a plate of hot khichdi on a tiring day or a piece of pizza on a relaxing day, a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly day or a tall glass of shikanji or sugarcane juice (especially for us Maharashtrians) on a hot summer day. Basically a perfect book that will calm you, relax you and soothe you in a way that you will forget all your worries.
⭐ ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5.
May 10, 2022
Are there any Bengali readers/ Writers here? 🧡
"My heart is so full that I can completely grasp what "brimming with love" feels. It is like a terracota pot filled to the brim with creamy, sweet mishti doi. It is like that perfect plate of mutton biryani from Shiraz with a hunk of subtly spiced potato hidden admist the fragrant rice. I can feel the happy energy radiate through my pores."
BOOK: Those Delicious Letters
AUTHOR: Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta aka The Bong Mom (@thebongmom)
GENRE: #autobiographicalnovel #domesticfiction
RATING: 🥘🥘🥘🥘🥘
A woman turning into 40 goes through alot of uncertainities and tensions. Shubha is a bengali (there is a reason I'm including bengali here, you will find out when you read the book) one such multi talented 40 year old mom and wife apart from being a 20% owner of a publication house and an ex-architect, who starts receiving letters from a grandmother from Calcutta, who writes to her like her own grandmother but her grandmother have passed away long back. With these letters Shubha finds a new zest to life.
Even though I brought this book loving the cover design and intruiging title, this book is much more than that. It carries the taste of homemade food, the love of our grandparents and parents, the nostalgia of ones own land and food. Its a feel good type book which roots you to your motherland.
Also I seriously fell in love with sameer, every women might wish for such a husband . Suggested to all 📖
#thebongmom
#thosedeliciousletters
#sandeepadattamukherjee
#bestsellingauthor
#food
#family
#love
#tradition
#motherland
#indian
#bengali
#calcutta
#traditionalrecepies
#middleage
#marriage
#lifespurpose
#fiction
#autobiographical
#bengalimom
#recepies
#writing
#maytbr
#goodreads
#mayread
#reading
#readerssnapshot
#review
"My heart is so full that I can completely grasp what "brimming with love" feels. It is like a terracota pot filled to the brim with creamy, sweet mishti doi. It is like that perfect plate of mutton biryani from Shiraz with a hunk of subtly spiced potato hidden admist the fragrant rice. I can feel the happy energy radiate through my pores."
BOOK: Those Delicious Letters
AUTHOR: Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta aka The Bong Mom (@thebongmom)
GENRE: #autobiographicalnovel #domesticfiction
RATING: 🥘🥘🥘🥘🥘
A woman turning into 40 goes through alot of uncertainities and tensions. Shubha is a bengali (there is a reason I'm including bengali here, you will find out when you read the book) one such multi talented 40 year old mom and wife apart from being a 20% owner of a publication house and an ex-architect, who starts receiving letters from a grandmother from Calcutta, who writes to her like her own grandmother but her grandmother have passed away long back. With these letters Shubha finds a new zest to life.
Even though I brought this book loving the cover design and intruiging title, this book is much more than that. It carries the taste of homemade food, the love of our grandparents and parents, the nostalgia of ones own land and food. Its a feel good type book which roots you to your motherland.
Also I seriously fell in love with sameer, every women might wish for such a husband . Suggested to all 📖
#thebongmom
#thosedeliciousletters
#sandeepadattamukherjee
#bestsellingauthor
#food
#family
#love
#tradition
#motherland
#indian
#bengali
#calcutta
#traditionalrecepies
#middleage
#marriage
#lifespurpose
#fiction
#autobiographical
#bengalimom
#recepies
#writing
#maytbr
#goodreads
#mayread
#reading
#readerssnapshot
#review
November 30, 2020
Those Delicious Letters by Sandeepa Mukherjee Datta is a delectable narrative. Shubha, a middle-aged, middle class Bengali woman is like every other Indian married woman shuffling between cooking, children and home. Her marriage has lost the romance and lustre and hence her husband, Sameer seems to her more distant than ever. Shubha has friends who have ticked off almost everything on their bucket lists of to-do things before forty as she contemplates the decisions she'd made in her life, recalling how she had had to wait for her daughters to be done with their practice sessions et al.
In the descriptions of her life, past and present, Shubha is very conversational, witty and funny with many brilliant one-liners. I'd somehow related to her when she says how much she hate surprises and how a perfect birthday celebration should be. On the course of her few days, as she moves forward, in complete contrast to her friends, she receives a letter, out of nowhere, from a woman in Bengal who claims to be her grandmother, Didan.
The letters are full of lip-smacking Bengali dishes, that even I, not a Bengali, felt like cooking (I told my mom to try one for me tho :)).
The narrative then unfolds the life of Didan, the shadowy voice behind those letters, that give a glimpse of the tradition and food of Bengal. Shubha's and Didan's storylines interweave as one wades through the novel, a heartwarming, sweet novel.
The one most brilliant yet subtle thing I found in the novel was the dedication to the recipes, one chapter for one recipe for someone who really wants to try Bengali food.
The narrator, Shubha, as I said, is conversational somewhat, because I really felt her talking to me when I caught myself nodding and shaking my head while reading her flowing words that came out so easily and perfectly like beads in a string. I felt happy as I read the book, my first cookery/food book, the satisfied happy and lighthearted as I ended the book with a smile across my face.
I recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone who want to feel happy. It really would make one happy. Believe me.
In the descriptions of her life, past and present, Shubha is very conversational, witty and funny with many brilliant one-liners. I'd somehow related to her when she says how much she hate surprises and how a perfect birthday celebration should be. On the course of her few days, as she moves forward, in complete contrast to her friends, she receives a letter, out of nowhere, from a woman in Bengal who claims to be her grandmother, Didan.
The letters are full of lip-smacking Bengali dishes, that even I, not a Bengali, felt like cooking (I told my mom to try one for me tho :)).
The narrative then unfolds the life of Didan, the shadowy voice behind those letters, that give a glimpse of the tradition and food of Bengal. Shubha's and Didan's storylines interweave as one wades through the novel, a heartwarming, sweet novel.
The one most brilliant yet subtle thing I found in the novel was the dedication to the recipes, one chapter for one recipe for someone who really wants to try Bengali food.
The narrator, Shubha, as I said, is conversational somewhat, because I really felt her talking to me when I caught myself nodding and shaking my head while reading her flowing words that came out so easily and perfectly like beads in a string. I felt happy as I read the book, my first cookery/food book, the satisfied happy and lighthearted as I ended the book with a smile across my face.
I recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone who want to feel happy. It really would make one happy. Believe me.
November 25, 2020
Those Delicious Letters' is the story of Shubha lakhshmi Sengupta, a 40-year-old woman who lives in the USA with her teenage girls, Piyu and Riya, and a loving yet ever-so-busy husband Sameer.
A normal day in her life includes a not-so-well paying job as an editor at a publishing start-up where she is also a 20% partner and an evening spent worrying about being ignored by her daughters and an unavailable husband.
Her basic khichuri-life starts becoming a flavorful biryani when she receives mysterious letters from an unknown Didan( grandmother) describing the long-lost recipes of authentic Bengali food along with equally interesting narration of Didan's love story.
Shubha tries to return the letters to the rightful owner but to no avail. Eventually, she decides to publish a book based on the delicious letters in order to save the crumbling finances of her publishing start-up.
The story paces with Shubha's frantic attempt at finding Didan using an outdated address in the bylanes of Kolkata, not only to take her due permission but also to complete the remaining pieces of the story.
Will she be able to find Didan? Will she be able to save her marriage, her professional life, and come to terms with her painful past? To know the answers, grab a copy!
A normal day in her life includes a not-so-well paying job as an editor at a publishing start-up where she is also a 20% partner and an evening spent worrying about being ignored by her daughters and an unavailable husband.
Her basic khichuri-life starts becoming a flavorful biryani when she receives mysterious letters from an unknown Didan( grandmother) describing the long-lost recipes of authentic Bengali food along with equally interesting narration of Didan's love story.
Shubha tries to return the letters to the rightful owner but to no avail. Eventually, she decides to publish a book based on the delicious letters in order to save the crumbling finances of her publishing start-up.
The story paces with Shubha's frantic attempt at finding Didan using an outdated address in the bylanes of Kolkata, not only to take her due permission but also to complete the remaining pieces of the story.
Will she be able to find Didan? Will she be able to save her marriage, her professional life, and come to terms with her painful past? To know the answers, grab a copy!
August 26, 2020
Sandeepa, after the resounding success of her first book, is back with her second book and this time a novel.
And what a beautiful read it makes for!
Two parallel stories woven beautifully together, with regular smatterings of traditional recipes, that are her forte and the real show stoppers.
The story is well plotted and has a beautiful mystery, in the form of a love story from a bygone era,that holds it all together till the end.
Moving through years, seasons and the roller coaster of daily life,
it depicts the determination of a lady who decides to make a name for herself and find an identity of her own.
And in the process, discovers herself.
And the relationships with the people in her life, with a fresh new realisation.
The story is simple, sweet and the characters lovable in their own places.
This book will touch your heart if you are living far away from the city and the home you have grown up in.
If you have loved the food that was cooked in your family and miss it when nostalgia takes over.
If you have experienced homecomings that awash you with warmth and revived memories.
And also if you love to read a book that is simple and yet is captivating at the same time.
Sandeepa is known for her lucid style of writing, with a tempering of humour, that makes her so popular.
And this book, is indeed in one word, delicious.
A must read.
Relish!
And what a beautiful read it makes for!
Two parallel stories woven beautifully together, with regular smatterings of traditional recipes, that are her forte and the real show stoppers.
The story is well plotted and has a beautiful mystery, in the form of a love story from a bygone era,that holds it all together till the end.
Moving through years, seasons and the roller coaster of daily life,
it depicts the determination of a lady who decides to make a name for herself and find an identity of her own.
And in the process, discovers herself.
And the relationships with the people in her life, with a fresh new realisation.
The story is simple, sweet and the characters lovable in their own places.
This book will touch your heart if you are living far away from the city and the home you have grown up in.
If you have loved the food that was cooked in your family and miss it when nostalgia takes over.
If you have experienced homecomings that awash you with warmth and revived memories.
And also if you love to read a book that is simple and yet is captivating at the same time.
Sandeepa is known for her lucid style of writing, with a tempering of humour, that makes her so popular.
And this book, is indeed in one word, delicious.
A must read.
Relish!
September 30, 2020
Shubha is a mom of two kids and a beloved wife who gave up on career for taking care of her kids settled in US fifteen years ago. Soon after her fortieth birthday she starts receiving letters from someone named Didan whereas she don’t have any living relatives other than an aunt. The book follows Shubha’s past through the letters received 💌 and her journey to find the sender of those letters in present 🍥
Shuba’s relationship with her teenage girls and her busy husband shows the day to day life of Indians mums. Her effort for trying to save her marriage, truly admirable friendship and loyalty, her courage to pick up cooking, stepping up to help her firm even in tough times, how those letters gave her a purpose.... I really loved it🌸
Indeed this book is a delicacy ❤️ with mouth watering recipes and detailed letters it made me travel back to those days when mobiles or Internet was not bloomed!✨ Though I never had Bengali food, it made me crave for it and try some recipes too! Thanks for the detailed description.
The ending however is the surprise twist and an awe moment 💕. I don’t want to put a spoiler on that part and would love the readers to find it ✌🏻
Shuba’s relationship with her teenage girls and her busy husband shows the day to day life of Indians mums. Her effort for trying to save her marriage, truly admirable friendship and loyalty, her courage to pick up cooking, stepping up to help her firm even in tough times, how those letters gave her a purpose.... I really loved it🌸
Indeed this book is a delicacy ❤️ with mouth watering recipes and detailed letters it made me travel back to those days when mobiles or Internet was not bloomed!✨ Though I never had Bengali food, it made me crave for it and try some recipes too! Thanks for the detailed description.
The ending however is the surprise twist and an awe moment 💕. I don’t want to put a spoiler on that part and would love the readers to find it ✌🏻
August 31, 2020
There is much happening.... an old lady, talking from a bygone era. From far away Kolkata! A young woman of 40, listening... In the present time, in Maryland! So many things are different. The time frame, the cultures, even their hopes and aspirations. And yet, their connection is over the common thread of recipes from their shared heritage. To weave a reader through by-lanes, then freeways, from arranged marriages, to hip suburban soirees, is a feat our Bong Mom pulls off seamlessly! In this cute tale she gives us not just some of the finest recipes of Bengal (yep, legit recipes interwoven into fiction -- works!) but also a peep into the different times, traditions, ambiance... Garnishing it with some lovable characters, she has dished out an enjoyable delicacy. Ours to savor, thank you, Sandeepa!
November 21, 2020
Shubha, our protagonist, was content and happy with her life, two lovely daughters a caring husband and house in the USA what else a person wants. Life was going smoothly until the day she starts receiving letters from a lady in Calcutta who claimed to be her grandmother.
Traditional Bengali recipes along with the life story of the so-called grandmother were written in those letters. The letter changed Shubha's life and give her a new purpose, the person who abhors cooking started experimenting with those recipes and to her utter surprise, her dishes becomes an instant hit with everyone she knows except her husband.
From the cover to the end this is a mouth-watering book, yes you heard me right. Mention of different dishes made me drool and oh my God how badly I wanted to eat them. And I think proves that this is a wonderfully written book.
With her witty narration, the author touched the right cord. The suspense build by the author will ask you to read the book in one go. In the climax, it became so difficult for me to read the book calmly as I wanted to know the truth asap.
The best part of this book is the way the author mixed the story and her delicious recipes.
Overall 'Those Delicious Letter' with its unique concept is the story of food, family, relationships and love which will make you nostalgic.
Traditional Bengali recipes along with the life story of the so-called grandmother were written in those letters. The letter changed Shubha's life and give her a new purpose, the person who abhors cooking started experimenting with those recipes and to her utter surprise, her dishes becomes an instant hit with everyone she knows except her husband.
From the cover to the end this is a mouth-watering book, yes you heard me right. Mention of different dishes made me drool and oh my God how badly I wanted to eat them. And I think proves that this is a wonderfully written book.
With her witty narration, the author touched the right cord. The suspense build by the author will ask you to read the book in one go. In the climax, it became so difficult for me to read the book calmly as I wanted to know the truth asap.
The best part of this book is the way the author mixed the story and her delicious recipes.
Overall 'Those Delicious Letter' with its unique concept is the story of food, family, relationships and love which will make you nostalgic.
November 17, 2020
It’s a nice day. You want to try something new and you have enough time. You check the internet for recipes but don’t find anything interesting. Try Those Delicious Letters; it has some interesting Bengali recipes to try out and fiction to engage the time you wait for the ingredients to cook.
Those Delicious Letters is a first person narrative of a Bengali woman living in the United States. Shubhalaxmi Sen-Gupta aka Subha, is celebrating her fortieth birthday. But life is not as exciting as it used to be. Her husband is busy, her paltry job is on the downside and her children live in their own world. As the existential crisis deepens, an aerogramme from India falls on her lap in this modern era of email. But it needs some more events in to spice up her life and make her come out of her trough.
Subha’s story is a simple narrative on how relationships and food can help. But, the self-deprecation smeared narrative captures the reader’s attention. One may find the narration to be slow, even after passing the halfway mark, but the curiosity to know what next makes the reader go along. A refreshing climax awaits the patient reader, which may not be out of the blue but yet unexpected. The book's sweetness is in the letters and the recipes. The letters slide the reader to another era and the recipes set a cookbook feel.
The book’s core is an ordinary story made extra-ordinary by the author’s narrative and culinary skills. If you love reading and cooking as well then this the book you should go for. Do try out one of the recipes as I did; who knows it may awaken the chef in you.
Those Delicious Letters is a first person narrative of a Bengali woman living in the United States. Shubhalaxmi Sen-Gupta aka Subha, is celebrating her fortieth birthday. But life is not as exciting as it used to be. Her husband is busy, her paltry job is on the downside and her children live in their own world. As the existential crisis deepens, an aerogramme from India falls on her lap in this modern era of email. But it needs some more events in to spice up her life and make her come out of her trough.
Subha’s story is a simple narrative on how relationships and food can help. But, the self-deprecation smeared narrative captures the reader’s attention. One may find the narration to be slow, even after passing the halfway mark, but the curiosity to know what next makes the reader go along. A refreshing climax awaits the patient reader, which may not be out of the blue but yet unexpected. The book's sweetness is in the letters and the recipes. The letters slide the reader to another era and the recipes set a cookbook feel.
The book’s core is an ordinary story made extra-ordinary by the author’s narrative and culinary skills. If you love reading and cooking as well then this the book you should go for. Do try out one of the recipes as I did; who knows it may awaken the chef in you.
October 1, 2020
After ages I finished reading a book in under 2 days. Now this book - about Those Delicious Letters; I've always liked the author's writing & wondered how she'd do in fiction. But true to her writing style she made it interesting, engrossing, & full of my kinda humour. Just perfect. The last paragraph of the book spells out exactly how I myself felt while nearing the end of the book. You'll have to read it & find out for yourself. Because this book is all kinds of love in a . . . . . in an inland letter. 🙂 This is a book I'm going to keep going back to just to feel the warmth of it again. ❤️
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