“Everyone loves a good mystery. It is easy to turn the pages when there is a mystery to be unraveled.” Today’s woman dreamer, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar is a New York based author. Taking a break from the corporate world, Manreet fell into the world of creative writing, now with five published novels to her name. She explores the power of female friendships, brings a unique perspective to crucial women’s issues, pens suspenseful murder mysteries, and more, captivating her readers with every page. She is thrilled to share that her most recent book, Girls & The City, is optioned to be a web series soon. Stay tuned for that, and enjoy Manreet’s exciting story with us!

1)     You've written five books to date, most recently, Girls in the City, a murder mystery with a strong highlight on female friendships and also bringing attention to sexual harrassment. What was the inspiration behind this book, and what got you interested in murder mysteries as a genre?  

Set in Bengaluru, Girls and the City is a story of female friendships centered on a murder mystery. A whodunit, that’s more of a who-was-it-done-to?

I started writing this novel amidst the #metoo movement as I wanted to explore the dynamics between sex and power. As a society we are reluctant to discuss sexual assault and harassment. I saw Girls and the City as a way to reignite that conversation. It explores how women navigate everyday misogyny using wit, grit and tenacity, and is a definitive #metoo novel.

I guess everyone loves a good mystery, be it cosy crime or thrillers. I find, both as a reader and a writer, that it’s easy to keep turning the pages when there is a mystery to be unravelled.

2) Tell us your story. Why did you want to become an author, and what were some challenges or interesting stories you experienced along the way? 

Writing snuck upon me in the guise of a tai tai, a Chinese colloquial term for a woman of leisure. Perched atop a Singapore high-rise, at the turn of the millennium, I was to take a sabbatical from the life of a corporate road warrior and indulge in some ‘me’ time. On my way to realising this barmy prospect in sunny Singapore, I collided with the plains of Punjab. Rather, its fields. That grew mustard and wheat and rice and, for a period in the eighties, militants. Which made my little town on the Indo-Pak border a militant hotbed. And images started to swim up, of a time that I had left behind, or so I thought...

I tried to resist. After all, I was jobless by choice, unburdened by motherhood, ready to explore a shiny first-world city! But the neat white Ikea table in my newly-set-up study drew me in repeatedly. There I’d sit after my husband left for office, with my second cup of tea, and memories that rose unbidden, like the fragrance of the night-blooming jasmine in the garden of our home in Ferozepur. All right, I determined, I would offload those memories onto my PC and be done with them. I was naive. One memory led to another, then another, a labyrinth opening up for me to wade in. That period of my life came back to me with the kind of hi-fidelity reproduction enthusiasts wax about.

To make sense of those memories I started asking questions. My research took me back in time and it was the national library, not any salon, that became my haunt. Seven years later, I had a book, my first: The Long Walk Home.

3) The characters in Girls in the City are all unique and bring a personality to the table. Juhi, being the ambitious and naive, Leela as a tenacious and bold single mother and Reshma as a big-time young executive. Which character would you say you personally resemble the most? Are the characters you write about influenced by people in your life? 

I wouldn’t say any one was particularly difficult. Each character has her own motivations and once I figured those, I was able to write from her distinct point of view. Having said that, Juhi, with her simultaneous naïveté and cunning, posed the greatest challenge. There’s a little bit of me strewn in every character I create, who spring to life on page from the wellspring of my life and its lived experiences

4) Earning The Laundry Stripes shows your experience as a woman in corporate world of India, and has been of interest for a movie.  What was your proudest moment as an author? Is there a dream actor/actress that you would want to be cast in a film version of your book(s)?

A proud moment for me as a writer has been getting praise from Gulzar and Khushwant Singh, both of whom were early influences on my writing. I don’t think in terms of casting, leaving it to filmmakers who will make the film/web series. You will be happy to know that Girls and the City has been optioned as well and we should see it as a web series soon.

5) As a #Dreamcatchers platform, what is your next big dream? 

To keep telling stories that haven’t been told before.