Book review : Choppiness on High Seas by Arvind Wadhera

 

Choppiness on  High Seas
by
Arvind Wadhera
Troubador Publishing, 2025
Genre: Fiction

"For predators of innocence and helplessness, money should not play a role in avoiding disgrace" - Choppiness on High Seas


With ongoing release of Epstein Files, the US-Israel war on Iran, worldwide oil shock, it is almost surreal when you read this book as it has covers all this and more.

Can wealth protect a family from ill health? How can it be in the public interest to invade an individual’s privacy? Is morality just a figure of speech in today's high society? Why do wealthy people spend vast amounts on indulgences but remain parsimonious regarding servants and cleaners? Why did corruption become the new paradigm after decolonization of Africa and Asia? How did US policy change after WW2?  These questions and much more are asked by the author and answered in his book, "Choppiness on High Seas."


The story begins with single mother Gail Stephens who gives birth to Mathew. She is a maid who cleans the houses of wealthy London families but realizes the important of education which she ensures Mathew acquires. Mathew Stephens grows up educated and works where he meets the love of his life Gwen. They marry and have Sally Stephens as Mathew starts building a shipping company right after the second world war. Mathew Stephens becomes a shipping magnate who stays away from the media glare. His success is phenomenal as is his personal tragedy. 

The author's observations are almost prophetic as the book was written in 2025 and it is happening again right now. The comparison to what happened during the Suez Canal crisis and the Strait of Hormuz now, is so alike. Canal closures, submersible explosives, wheeling dealing all over the world. The Epstein files atrocities are very similar to the rape of Asian kids by British Elite. Why does Britain scoff at Europe but bows before the States? The economy was about real things and merchandise. And the world was still run by humans, not robots.

The writing is  crisp and there is no dull moment in the narration. It is moving and inspiring  while it gives people who don't understand geopolitics and politics a ringside view.

This is a must read for all.

Buy the book here   👉Amazon

Book Review : The Whispering Women #Book 1 of A Delafield and Malloy Investigation

 

The Whispering Women

by

Trish MacEnulty

‎387 pages, Prism Light Press

Genre : Historical Fiction

 

Is it insane for women to expect respect, dignity and equality in today’s world? After the failure of Roe vs. Wade, it is worrisome when a story set over a hundred years ago in New York sounds timely and relevant today even though it is said to be historical fiction. Whispering Women is set in 1913, which is 110 years ago addresses the women’s rights under attack today: abortion, contraception, equality in wages, the right to vote, etc in today’s USA. 

 The author uses the characters of Louisa Delafield and Ellen Malloy to tell a story of why women in the USA decided to seek these rights and what were the underlying causes to do so especially the right to vote and use contraception instead of dying an early death especially by women who were raped by men of high society. As I read the novel, I was reminded of HBO’s The Gilded Age.

Louisa belongs to the old money high society elite whose dead father has managed to destroy their inheritance. She is scraping by as a society column writer and is told to expand as the readers are bored with dresses, debutantes and designers. She decides to write a crime column. The other protagonist is Ellen, an Irish immigrant who works as a lady’s maid and witnesses her friend and fellow servant Silvia die due to an illegal abortion conducted by a high society doctor. Ellen manages to escape and this how Louisa and Ellen meet. While Louisa offers Ellen protection, Ellen collects information to help Louisa connect the dots in a police matron’s murder and thus solve the crime of her own friend’s murder.

Trish MacEnulty creates a rich world and interesting characters. Well researched, the writing style is crisp and easily moves from ballrooms to brothels with a pace that would make the readers glued to the book. The notion of capitalism and the use of gangs of New York makes one shudder with anger. But that is what it is all about, isn’t it? Certain things in particular are emphasized, especially how, even though Silvia’s pregnancy was forced upon her, she would have been the one punished for ending it and dies along with her immigrant dreams. The men face no consequences, even when it is them who are the cause of the problem. It is always about power, isn’t it?  If you wish to read a book on white slavery, this would be it.

What Louisa writes about in her column are still issues which over a century later, still remain issues and such parallels show just how important these things are in society now and bursts our notions of women’s equality today as opposed to a barbaric, class filled past where women’s lives didn’t matter, especially those of women without money.

If you like historical fiction and mysteries, this is just the book for you.

You can buy it on Amazon.