Power Publishers recently released 'The Family' by veteran journalist Shyamal Roy, who seems to have experienced the trials and tribulations as well as moments of happiness associated with a joint family, in person.

The number of joint families in India may be on a decline and nuclear families are growing rapidly but somewhere in the core of the Indian family system, the essence of the joint family hasn’t died away.

Roy has written the book with such clarity and intelligence that it makes the read enjoyable for many reasons.

The story revolves around a real joint family based in north Calcutta during the world war II.

The story is full of traditional Indian values with Roy infusing elements to keeping the essence of conventional customs alive.

The story is also about the generation gap in terms of thinking process and the idea of liberty.

The narration is realistic and acceptable, making it a lucid read for people with moderate to good hold on the English langauge

I would recommend this book for people who are interested in reading something that is emotional, interesting and fun at the same time.

Priced at Rs 199, the book would shortly be available on flipkart, amazon and power-publishers.com.

(Reviewed by Poonam Chatterjee)