Sujata Massey

Tonight I am feeling BOLD!

 

Just a few hours ago, I ripped off my mask and greeted an audience on a packed patio at The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore for a book-signing. Soho Press's edition of THE BOMBAY PRINCE, my first book in two years, has launched into the world. 

 

It’s a very exciting, and slightly daring, experience to launch a book in a community that is probably 2/3 vaccinated, even though we were outdoors. I imagined many people hadn't been that close to so many others in over a year. And  you could say thousands were there---because of the cicadas in the four-plus acres of gardens connected to the bookstore.

Little Daisy has the mouth of a publicist

 

I thanked the friends who'd come for their patience. This was a book I labored over for a longer period of time than I usually allow myself. I went to India twice to research this book twice. The final research trip, which involved getting inside a historic college and touring a police station, happened just a month before COVID closed the world down. How lucky I was to have bee in India before it was too late.

PRH India cover illustration inspired by Wilson College!

 

The third novel in my Perveen Mistry series delves deep goes into the political conflicts in 1921 India between India’s British ruling class and Indian subjects desperate for autonomy.  

The book’s heroine, solicitor Perveen Mistry, is caught between two worlds…she yearns for her country to be free, while many of her family and friends prefer the status quo. They don’t want to imagine what the city would be like without familiar faces controlling the courts and government. This conflict comes to a head when Edward VIII, Prince of Wales, travels through the city in a gala procession, during which time one student protestor is arrested, and the other, a female, is discovered dead on the college grounds. The immediate assumption is that the girl’s death was an act of political suicide or vengeance. Perveen assists her grieving family and finds the truth is more frightening—and may even portent violence against the visiting English prince.

 

I like combining true stories like the prince’s 1921 visit to India and subsequent riots with personal stories that come from my own imagination. I became curious about the lives of early college co-eds after reading an article in a student magazine written by an “Anonymous Lady Student.” Another great source were articles by newspaper correspondents about the Prince’s visit and the ensuing riots, and the British government’s account of the Prince’s daily schedule, which formed the backbone of my novel’s schedule. Perhaps few care about whether the Prince of Wales actually visited the Orient Club on Sunday versus Monday, but since he is a real person, I want to get that right. 

There is a special poignancy in promoting a novel about India during this time, when India was unexpectedly slammed with the most lethal COVID-19 experience we've seen so far. I'm desperately concerned for Bombay and the wonderful people I know there. I comfort myself by knowing, through history, how India has always come back strongly from difficulties.

 

Allen&Unwin's charming Australia/NZ edition

THE BOMBAY PRINCE launch continues throughout the summer, mostly virtually, with online events sponsored by some of the nicest book people in America. Different literary friends will be in conversation with me at the various events, so the conversations will be unique with audience participation welcomed. All are free but require registering ahead of time to get a joining link.

 

June 7 left-bankbooks.com

June 9 poisonedpen.com

June 11 onceuponacrimebooks.indielit.org

June 17 boswellbooks.com

June 20 bookpassage.com

June 22 fountainbookstore.com

July 7 mysteryloversbookshop.com

July 12 murderbooks.com

Aug 6 madstreetbooks.com

Aug 14 LIVE EVENT, NOT ONLINE! mysterylovescompanybooks.com in Oxford, MD.

Aug 17 lit-lovers.com

You can bless these wonderful booksellers by getting a book from one of them--it's even possible to do so while watching the event online. The book is also just released in Australia and New Zealand from by Allen and Unwin, and will soon will be out in India from PenguinIndia/RandomHouse. I hope to have online gatherings for readers  in these countries. I'll let you know when the schedule comes together. Also, the audiobook read by the sublime Sneha Mathan is available from Recorded Books. How I love to listen to her voice! 

Lastly, I want to say that many people are involved in the making and launching of a book--from agents and editors and marketing people, to other authors, booksellers, bloggers and readers. I am grateful to every single person who's discovered and shared Perveen--including you.

 

The Purgatory of Book Revision

 Sujata Massey

What a grand feeling for a writer to labor over the creation of the book, reach the final page, and triumphantly type: THE END.

 

(Sujata clears throat) Sorry, it's not the end. If you’re a writer working with a traditional publisher, finishing a book means you’re submitting it to be read by an editor and will soon be asked to make revisions; anywhere from a few fixes per page to dozens. Multiply that by four hundred pages, and it's like writing a book again.

 

Almost three months ago, my marked-up book that took 16 months to write in the first place came home again, along with a host of to-dos in the right margin. I got right to it, but it's not been a cakewalk, and I'm not done yet.

 

It's a joy to have time for a revision, and an editor like mine who cares to delve thoroughly and seek to make the book truly understandable, and ensure the fact given on page 100 is not negated on page 200. For any book to be fluently readable and enjoyable, there are going to be multiple drafts. And it's always better for a writer to make the changes than an editor--though a copy editor does make lots of changes, subject to an author's approval. 

In order to meet sales, printing and distribution dates, not to mention marketing to booksellers, press and librarians, a publisher needs about a year. And that means Soho needs a workable manuscript from me for their year of labor. I can't be on a pandemic schedule with my book, even tough I'm writing from home.

How I envy the writers who can rewrite their manuscripts in two to four weeks. These angels really do exist. I think the rewrite takes a longer time for me because I take the editor’s notes as a starting point. I read everything, word by word, just like a reader coming to the book for the first time. My eyes are glazing over with red, green, and blue “track changes” type. I went through all 440 pages already; but am traveling the same road once again, to clean up what I missed.

 

 

As much as I labor over rewriting, I love the fact this book came to me. It's a historical mystery set in November 1921, a time that Edward, Prince of Wales, arrived in Bombay for a four-month tour meant to get Indians thrilled for continued British rule. Yes--that's what the government thought. My lawyer sleuth, Perveen Mistry, knows the tour will mean trouble. 

Up until this afternoon, I had it in my head the book was going to be titled Prince of Bombay. However, I looked at the draft cover illustration and realize it's actually titledThe Bombay Prince. I'm making the revision in my mind.

 

Everywhere, kids are back to school, either virtual or hybrid. And I’m in a school of my own making; a never-ending English assignment with plenty of Indian proper names. I fire up my laptop at six-thirty or seven in the morning; take short naps, long walks, and stretch my aching hips and hamstrings on a foam roller. I do my work perform at a desk, and also on my porch, and in bed, and even on my exercise ball. My brain is dead for more editing by five o’clock, although if someone picks up a carryout dinner, I may have the juice for a few more pages.

 

One hundred and ten pages left to read in five days. I'll make it.