New Delhi [India], June 5: Author Nilakshi Garg is a young and dashing Indian novelist who has sparked many Indian and international reader’s hearts through her debut novel: Mirage. Over time, she developed writing with a keen and sharp interest and observation about life. And that’s what readers have digested in Mirage.
The storyline of this novel to hit 50k downloads across the entire nation since its release, 15 January 2020, is quite gripping. In this story, author Nilakshi Garg narrates the unfortunate reality of depression, living alone in big cities like Chicago, owning a venture of yours, and not conforming to many people around you, despite their astonishing efforts.
This novel hit the hearts of thousands of people because it clearly stated what readers felt throughout the pandemic—scared, alone, sensitive, and confused.
Nilakshi Garg has always been interested in publishing a novel. This has been her dream. Before the launch of Mirage, she has been continuously blogging for the past few years already.
Professionally and creatively, she worked in multiple anthologies before like The Sentient Vol. – 2, The Last Flower of Spring by Delhi Poetry Slam, A Jar Of Stories by Half Baked Beans, where she contributed a short romantic thriller story named “The Secret Affair,” and then Micro Fiction Anthology by Half Baked Beans where she again put her best talent forward by contributing a short romantic story named “Damn Him.”
Moving to the narrative of Mirage, it’s a shocking story of Bethany Carlson (Female Protagonist), who lives alone, owns a Tattoo Parlour, and has minimal people to talk to in her life. Nilakshi Garg says, “We all have to go through this phase at least once in life. It makes us feel that nobody is there for us or the world is against our wishes or aspirations. In this troubled water, we have to swim across with our dignity, determination, and discipline. Times like such show us a mirror. There’s no running from it. We either end up breaking our self-created mirages, or the world already gets too suffocating for us to handle. And this shows in every chapter of the book, Mirage, once you get to know the characters and their depth.”
Interestingly, we have a male protagonist, Gerald Fletcher, put up against the shams of Bethany Carlson. He is everything Bethany never thought she would need in her life. She wasn’t ready to find a man who would tolerate her tantrums, lies, and dispositions. That’s where the novel gets more interesting for readers to get into the mindset of a person who thinks a lot.
Mirage is a masterpiece with 50k downloads in 1.5 years for a debut novelist in India’s highly competitive market. This is quite shocking for Nilakshi Garg as well when she quotes, “I had no idea if Mirage will get even a single reader outside my core circle. I initially wrote it to get all of my frustration and observations out on the paper. I wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming response from my readers. It is truly beyond my imagination, and it gives me, a young Indian romantic author, enough power to have an opinion that’s heard, talked about, criticized, and looked upon. It’s no less than a privilege in itself.”
From what we gathered from some reviews on Google Play Store and Amazon, it’s clear that there is enough suspense, romance, and wit in the storyline to hold the reader’s attention till the last page.
Mirage by Nilakshi Garg is worth reading for those who want an excellent, juicy, emotional, dramatic, and suspenseful novel. There’s business drama, family drama, lover’s drama, and enough putting-the-reader-on-the-edge feels to be curious why everything is happening around the protagonist’s life the way it is. It makes readers flustered, confused, flabbergasted and takes them off-guard when least expected.
Nilakshi Garg has blown up the level of English writers in India. She has brought forward a new sub-genre and flavour of romance to Indian adult and mature readers. That’s because this novel is also embedded with trigger warnings which are quite mandatory when you start to unravel the past and history of the female lead.
With such a strong underpinning and gut-wrenching plot, this novel deserves 50k downloads and more in the upcoming years. “It’s just one milestone. There will be more. My heart knows it and signs it when I am down and unmotivated,” says the author herself.
There is no surprise that the launch of Mirage has already been covered in more than 15+ online newspapers. “Mirage had a slow start in January. But with the launch of its eBook in March 2020, it kept breaking the limits for me. Those newspaper coverages were just a few amongst many,” comments NilakshiGarg humbly.
For now, this author is working on yet another magic and coming up soon with her second novel to shock her readers once again. Romance readers can connect with Nilakshi Garg on her Instagram page and get the latest updates on her novel and other write-ups, hitting a whopping sales count daily.
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