Phantom Lovers (P.B)

Phantom Lovers comprises two lyrical novellas–With Fate Conspire and Wait!

With Fate Conspire narrates how, despite the antagonism between the imperial British and the subjugated Indians, a young British magistrate is entranced by a zamindar’s daughter in Bengal. On a stormy night they elope to their planned paradise–until the Mutiny of 1857 intrudes on their lives. A century later in London their predicament is mysteriously reflected in the turbulent fate of another Englishman and an Indian girl.

Wait! is about two lovers in Rome–an Afghan academic and an Indian woman who plan an idyllic life together. Then the violent coup of April 1978 in Afghanistan forever changes their destinies and of that nation.

Caught in these tempests the separated lovers in both stories defy danger and despair as they travel across strange frontiers of time and space to find their lost beloveds.

Achala Moulik

Born in Calcutta in a family of scholars and diplomats Achala Moulik went to schools in Washington, New York and London where her father Moni Moulik was posted on diplomatic assignments. She graduated in Economics, Political Science, International History and Law from London University. Thereafter she studied Italian Renaissance in Rome. Her civil servant and writer husband Mohandas Moses encouraged her literary endeavours. After graduation Achala joined the Indian Administrative Service. She has worked in various capacities among them as Education Secretary, Government of India when the national education programme ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ was formulated and as Director General, Archaeological Survey of India. She has published books on international relations, political and cultural history, along with biographies on Tagore and Tolstoy, four acclaimed novels and a collection of poetry. Her play Pushkin’s Last Poem was staged in Moscow and Petersburg to standing ovation. For her contribution to Russian history and literature Achala received the Sergei Yesenin Prize and the prestigious Pushkin Medal from the Russian President.