Vermillion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh by Reenita M. Hora
…a gripping and dark historical romance fraught with edge-of-your-seat tension.
“If our personal freedom is politically suppressed, then how can we ever be free to love each other?”
Vermillion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh by Reenita M. Hora is a politically charged historical romance that highlights one of India’s darkest moments as it details the story of two star-crossed lovers determined to defy the odds.
Finding Love Against the Odds
In January 1919 in the city of Amritsar, 18-year-old Aruna Duggal steps into a local eatery and catches eyes with a handsome, brown-eyed, dimpled man. Ayaz Peermohammed, a feisty activist and law student, makes an impression on her, flirting and winning her over with his Jane Austen references.
As Aruna’s curiosity about Ayaz grows, she considers the potential for Ayaz to be her suitor. But fear that “public scrutiny and wagging tongues would definitely keep a local gent and [her] from truly sharing [their] lives” begins to arise. While Aruna is Anglo-Indian and Hindu (with a British father and Punjabi mother), Ayaz is Muslim. The odds are already stacked against them.
The Great War might be over, but political tensions are high and still climbing. Mahatma Gandhi is gaining power, and the hope that he can guide the people of India toward freedom inspires even Ayaz to join the cause of the Indian National Congress. For fear of losing her job teaching English at Saint Mary’s School, and her mother’s already-shaky favor, Aruna cannot associate with activist causes, no matter how much her attraction to Ayaz grows. And how can she publicly support the cause of freedom from the British, when her own father was a British army officer?
With or without Aruna at his side, Ayaz fights for the economic and social upliftment of the Indian people. But lawmakers and politicians seek to quell the cause Ayaz fights for, determining to crush anything they deem revolutionary or terrorist acts. Laws like the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, known as the Rowlatt Act, “gave authorities complete power to imprison without a trial, and to shoot to kill without notice.” A bloodbath is looming on the horizon, and Aruna wants to do everything she can to warn and protect Ayaz.
As the situation grows dire, activists gather in Jallianwala Bagh to plot a course for peaceful opposition. When Ayaz’s name appears on a watchlist of revolutionaries, and Aruna is known to affiliate with him, more than just their secret love affair is threatened to be exposed. Then on April 13, 1919, the tension comes to a head with unimaginable violence in the Bagh, leaving the community grieving.
Political Tension and Identity Conflicts
Vermillion Harvest is an exploration of conflict — political, social and internal. Aruna is torn between loyalty to two worlds, two identities that seem to conflict — and yet she is part of both of them herself. “Whatever decision I made, I would be judged by one ethnic community or the other, by one religious community or the other.” She must learn to conflate her own identity with what she knows is right, and with the identity and politics of the man she loves.
From sisterly advice and differences of opinion from her friend Amrita, to discrimination and political protests, to eye-opening relationships, Reenita M. Hora has crafted a gripping and dark historical romance fraught with edge-of-your-seat tension. As Aruna and Ayaz struggle with the weight of the political atmosphere in India, they are determined to build a future where they can live peacefully together, free from discrimination and turmoil. Is freedom possible? Can love conquer all? How can a bright future grow from a dark past? Read Vermillion Harvest and find out.
About Reenita M. Hora:
Reenita M. Hora brings life to her stories from her South Asian experiences, featuring quirky characters who navigate a rollercoaster of imperfect scenarios – but who refuse to sell out. She’s an editor, writer, and script supervisor for notable publications and platforms such as National Geographic Kids, Disney India, Cartoon Network Asia, the New York Times, and CNN. Reenita garnered numerous awards, including the Eric Hoffer Book Award, the IndieReader Discovery Award, Santa Barbara International Screenplay Award, Script2Comic, Launchpad, and Emerging Screenwriters awards.
She produces two podcasts: the True Fiction Project (unscripted to scripted), and Shadow Realm (narrative fiction). Recently, LA Weekly dubbed her a ‘top indie author’ bringing Indian culture and humor to America.
Reenita inked a Production Development agreement for her young adult romcom screenplay, Operation Mom. She also optioned her unpublished book, Shadow Realm, and a literary memoir, Ace of Blades. Anticipate her upcoming literary work, Festival of Lights with Harper Collins and her newest work, Vermilion Harvest: Playtime at the Bagh with Indignor House Publishing.
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Publish Date: 7/15/2024
Genre: Historical Fiction, Politics, Romance
Author: Reenita M. Hora
Page Count: 312 pages
Publisher: Indignor House, Inc.
ISBN: 9781953278524