Anuja Chauhan’s fourth novel, The House That BJ Built, is being published in May. It’s also her first sequel – to Those Pricey Thakur Girls. In an interview, the writer talks of writing, reading, and inspiration.
Why the need for a sequel?
When I started writing what turned out to be Those Pricey Thakur Girls, it was actually called The House That BJ Built. It was supposed to be this big desi family saga about an ancestral property dispute. But halfway through I realised that this was going to be a very fat and unwieldy book – so then I decided to split it into two: Those Pricey Thakur Girls, which sets up the family in the 1980s, and The House that BJ Built, which is set in 2008 and features the next generation squabbling over the house.
Was there any kind of pressure while writing The House that BJ Built, given Those Pricey Thakur Girls did so well?
There's always pressure. With House the pressure was about giving closure to so many characters.
TPTG was compared to Pride and Prejudice. What did you think of that? How did it feel?
If you write a book about five sisters, P&P is bound to come up. So I was prepared for, and reconciled to, that. As far as I was concerned, this book was based on my sisters and my aunts (we’re four sisters and my mum was one of five).
The working title for the book was Pricey and Dicey though (because she was pricey and he was dicey), in that very Austen style. And the skeleton of the story is very P&P. They meet, he proposes, she spurns him, he writes a letter and then, you know, happy ending, I kept that format quite deliberately. But, I hope, TPTG is its own book.
What made you become a writer? Moving from advertising to writing must have been a very carefully thought-out plan. How did that come to be?
Yes it was. I enjoyed copywriting (still do!), but I also wanted to just write – with more control and fewer restrictions. So I started writing Zoya (my first book) in bits and pieces whenever I had free time – rather like a convict digging his way out of prison at night with a tiny tin spoon. I knew I could stay home and be with my husband and three growing kids if I wrote books on my laptop and earned enough money off them, so that kept me going. Plus the sheer high of creating freely and without any caveats.
Which of the characters are more prominent in THTBJB than in TPTG?
Bonu Singh! This is her book through and through, though Samar and the aunts do have key roles. And Chachiji too.
As a teenager, what was your guilty pleasure read?
Georgette Heyer romances. They still are.
What books are currently on your night stand?
Something my kids gave me. It’s called the The Giver.
Who is your favourite novelist of all time and why?
I love Vikram Seth. I feel safe in his hands. Like he's worth my time and my money, and he won't let me down. I really wish he'd hurry up and write a nice big juicy book already instead of waffling about doing everything-else-but.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
The most famous book I couldn't wade through and gave up at 100 pages was The Satanic Verses. It was just too viscous. Too thick. I desperately wanted to read it, but I couldn't.
I couldn't read The Inheritance of Loss either. I tried – but I couldn't. Recently, I think my eyes are giving out. I need reading glasses and I haven't gotten around to ordering them yet. So I’ve had to put down The Goldfinch and A Case of Exploding Mangoes.
If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolfe. Reading it in the 1980s changed my entire personality.
What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?
There are just too many of those!
What do you plan to read next?
I'm going to get those reading glasses. And then take another bash at A Case of Exploding Mangoes.
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Why the need for a sequel?
When I started writing what turned out to be Those Pricey Thakur Girls, it was actually called The House That BJ Built. It was supposed to be this big desi family saga about an ancestral property dispute. But halfway through I realised that this was going to be a very fat and unwieldy book – so then I decided to split it into two: Those Pricey Thakur Girls, which sets up the family in the 1980s, and The House that BJ Built, which is set in 2008 and features the next generation squabbling over the house.
Was there any kind of pressure while writing The House that BJ Built, given Those Pricey Thakur Girls did so well?
There's always pressure. With House the pressure was about giving closure to so many characters.
TPTG was compared to Pride and Prejudice. What did you think of that? How did it feel?
If you write a book about five sisters, P&P is bound to come up. So I was prepared for, and reconciled to, that. As far as I was concerned, this book was based on my sisters and my aunts (we’re four sisters and my mum was one of five).
The working title for the book was Pricey and Dicey though (because she was pricey and he was dicey), in that very Austen style. And the skeleton of the story is very P&P. They meet, he proposes, she spurns him, he writes a letter and then, you know, happy ending, I kept that format quite deliberately. But, I hope, TPTG is its own book.
What made you become a writer? Moving from advertising to writing must have been a very carefully thought-out plan. How did that come to be?
Yes it was. I enjoyed copywriting (still do!), but I also wanted to just write – with more control and fewer restrictions. So I started writing Zoya (my first book) in bits and pieces whenever I had free time – rather like a convict digging his way out of prison at night with a tiny tin spoon. I knew I could stay home and be with my husband and three growing kids if I wrote books on my laptop and earned enough money off them, so that kept me going. Plus the sheer high of creating freely and without any caveats.
Which of the characters are more prominent in THTBJB than in TPTG?
Bonu Singh! This is her book through and through, though Samar and the aunts do have key roles. And Chachiji too.
As a teenager, what was your guilty pleasure read?
Georgette Heyer romances. They still are.
What books are currently on your night stand?
Something my kids gave me. It’s called the The Giver.
Who is your favourite novelist of all time and why?
I love Vikram Seth. I feel safe in his hands. Like he's worth my time and my money, and he won't let me down. I really wish he'd hurry up and write a nice big juicy book already instead of waffling about doing everything-else-but.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
The most famous book I couldn't wade through and gave up at 100 pages was The Satanic Verses. It was just too viscous. Too thick. I desperately wanted to read it, but I couldn't.
I couldn't read The Inheritance of Loss either. I tried – but I couldn't. Recently, I think my eyes are giving out. I need reading glasses and I haven't gotten around to ordering them yet. So I’ve had to put down The Goldfinch and A Case of Exploding Mangoes.
If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolfe. Reading it in the 1980s changed my entire personality.
What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?
There are just too many of those!
What do you plan to read next?
I'm going to get those reading glasses. And then take another bash at A Case of Exploding Mangoes.
