Rani Dharker’s first novel, The Virgin Sydrome, was ecstatically received and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize. It was also on best-seller lists. This was followed by her second novel, Anurima. She has written and illustrated a children’s book, Champaner and the Magic Mountain, Pavagadh, and a coffee-table book, Once Upon a Time there was Baroda.

Rani has a Ph D in Enlish Literature and was Professor of English at M. S. University, Baroda, where she was a leading light in the Shakespeare Society, directing plays (like Girish Karnad’s Nagmandala) and acting (in plays like Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire as Blanche Dubois). Her column, The D(h)arker View, had a wide readership in The Times of India’s Baroda Times.

She loves animals and nature. She lives in Mumbai with a dog (she has always had a dog or three) and lots of trees and plants.     

Eight women and one man, each of them dealing with life in their own way . An unexpected encounter with a stranger causes an upheaval or sometimes though nothing out-of-the-ordinary happens, there is acceptance and the knowledge that they will survive in a tough world.