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Stars from the Borderless Sea Kindle Edition

by Shalini Mullick (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 148 ratings
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What is true love? Who are soulmates? Can love be defined by the constructs of society and convention? Can an affair rescue a marriage? Can true love ever tear
people apart?

Two college mates fall in love, only to be separated-their love stays steady, though they meet just twice in forty years.
A close-knit family, shadows from the past, a lingering suspicion, and a relationship put to the test.
An emotionally unavailable husband, a hurt wife; and an affair that redeems and transforms.

Three strong women, and their journeys. And love, as mature and strong as them. In these times of speed dating, hook-ups, and break-ups, Stars from the Borderless Sky, a collection of three riveting stories, takes an unconventional, honest, empathetic look at that most universal of human emotions—love.

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  1. Print length
    247 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    20 February 2022
  4. File size
    2317 KB
  5. Page Flip
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  6. Word Wise
    Enabled
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Product description

About the Author

Shalini is a writer with a diverse portfolio spanning fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her flash fictions, drabbles and stories have been featured on many online platforms. She was selected as Juggernaut Selects author for her e-single “Happily Divorced”. She was also one of the winners of the eShe short story contest. She has published 2 short stories each in the anthologies “Sharing Lipstick” and “Women.Mutiny”. One of her short stories was selected for publication in the anthology “Everything Changed After That”, which was unveiled at the Ananke Women in Literature Festival in 2021. Her work on many reputed platforms like eShe Magazine, Women’s Web, Eyra magazine and Incredible Women of India has been well received. She was awarded the Orange Flower Award for Short Fiction in 2022, and for writing on LGBTQ+ issues in 2021. She was also a finalist for the same award for writing on humour in 2021. She was also the winner of the #tellastoryinsixwords Challenge by Crossword bookstores and a judge for myWish4U talent contest organized by Smile Foundation. She has won the ‘Muse of The Month’ contest organized by Women’s Web on multiple occasions. Shalini empathizes with the challenges and unique situations that women are often confronted with and weaves this understanding in her writing. In her other avatar, she is a practicing doctor, specializing in respiratory pathology with many scientific research papers and textbook chapters to her credit. Medical Humanities is an area in which she has a keen interest, and her poetry has been published in reputed journals. She is copyeditor and on the Review board of the journal ‘Research and Humanities in Medical Education’. A late entrant to the world of writing, Shalini finds it takes her away from noise, and towards silence. It is also a good excuse to avoid hitting the gym; and stops her from helicopter parenting her teenage children. She is happiest in the company of books, chocolate and old hindi movie songs. Though she has beautiful memories of her years in Bangalore and has now put down roots in Gurgaon, she remains a Dilliwali at heart. Stars from the Borderless Sea is her first book. You can read more about her at www.shalinimullick.com

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09SZ5LS5K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Readomania (20 February 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2317 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 247 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 148 ratings

About the author

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Shalini Mullick

Shalini Mullick

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Shalini is a practicing doctor. After decades of writing long biopsy reports and applications for research grants, she decided to explore creative writing.

Her book Stars from the Borderless Sea (2022) was longlisted for the Auther Awards 2023 (Debut category). It is a collection of three non-linked novella-length stories. The book is an unconventional, empathetic look at the most universal human emotion — love.

Shalini was awarded a Jury Appreciation Citation at the UNFPA Laadli Media & Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity (2022). Her stories on women’s identity have won many short story contests and two Orange Flower awards (Fiction, 2022 and LGBTQ Issues, 2021). Five of her short stories have found home in 3 anthologies. A humorous short story was selected for the Juggernaut Selects program (2020). Her poetry has been published in reputed Medical Humanities journals. She is a copyeditor and on the Review Board of the journals like ‘Research and Humanities in Medical Education'.

She has been an invited speaker at Literary events like the Delhi Literature Festival, Women in Literature Festival, Midnight at Book Store, House of Harmony Spring Festival and the Golden Door Dialogues. She is a columnist and panelist for platforms like eShe, Ananke, Beyond the Box, Women’s Web and Incredible Women of India. She is regularly invited to prestigious schools and educational institutes to share her experiences, judge contests, and speak at career counseling events. She has also been an invited guest on audio and video podcasts, and other online forums.

Her strong conviction that words have the power to change the worlds we live in comes together with the sensitivity of her writing as she tells stories that uplift, empower and engage.

You can find her at www.shalinimullick.com.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
148 global ratings
quaint, sentimental, human and simply told tales with a writer’s ease
4 Stars
quaint, sentimental, human and simply told tales with a writer’s ease
I have enjoyed Shalini’s lyrical writing- the manner in which she moulds a character’s engagement with the reader, or rather, the reader is drawn to a character and more via Mullick's lucid writing. There are details which might escape a person - but not Shalini’s sharp vision. She manages to tug at your heart’s strings- you weep, you baulk, you hold your breath, all in a single story. She has fine-tuned the art of making a heart throb for the people she writes about. She also speaks of emancipation, of love that transpires within the confines of a narrow society, yet the embers pulsate with life, waiting to be fanned, all with great dexterity.The three long stories (novellas if you will): Sayonee (soulmate), Humsafar (Companion)Humraaz (Confidante) have a common theme- strong women who delve deeper into their past, triggered by some element in their present. Shalini is an elegant writer, and this is a fabulous debut!
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Top reviews from India

Vrinda
5.0 out of 5 stars A heartwarming read
Reviewed in India on 3 January 2024
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Stars from the Borderless Sea is a heartwarming collection of three novellas that explore the idea of love beyond the heady rush of nascent romance. Each story begins with a newspaper article that triggers the slow unfolding of memories of past events, secrets and sacrifices, loss and resilience. The characters are strong and relatable. My favorite story was Humraaz, whose protagonists brave all odds to reach for their dreams. In this age of instant gratification, it was truly refreshing to read these stories of a love that is mature, patient, accepting, understanding, and selfless.
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K
4.0 out of 5 stars 3 tales of love, loss, and longing that will leave you wanting more
Reviewed in India on 4 January 2024
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3 short stories of love, longing, loss, pain, and timelessness. In Stars from the Borderless Sea, each story brings about a unique definition of the word “love”. There will be absolutely no reader who doesn’t identify with the emotions captured by Shalini in at least one of the three stories.

The stories are relatable, and at the same time, they transcend the bounds of time. The narration takes place over a long period of time for each of the stories, and it feels like the reader has been present throughout the lives of each of the characters.

The first story, Sayonee, is hands-down my favourite. The words weave a story so beautiful that one can’t help falling in love with Geetika and Shekhar.

Each story is narrated with empathy and gentleness. The narration allows you to be a part of Shalini’s universe with ease and experience each emotion the characters feel.

Definitely pick this up if you are prepared to go through a whirlwind of emotions.
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Smita Das Jain
5.0 out of 5 stars A delectable read best savoured slowly than gobbled down in a hurry. Not to be missed.
Reviewed in India on 18 June 2022
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Rating: 4.6/5

Stars from the Borderless Sea (SfBS) by Shalini Mullick is a delectable read that grows on you and stays in your heart for a considerable time. This book is a book that is best savoured slowly rather than gobbled down in a hurry.

The contemporary novella comes as a breath of fresh air in our fast-paced lives where love, and other relationships, are increasingly playing a secondary role to the business of making a living. The book throws light on a new, more mature side of romance that is ordinarily considered forbidden and exemplifies that love is not about two people gazing into each other’s eyes but looking together in the same direction.

SfBS comprises three stories—Sayonee, Humsafar and Humraaz—which are independent of each other and yet bound by underlying threads of newspaper columns (extra marks from me for the author for reminding us of the routine of the morning newspaper in this digital age), strong women protagonists, all of whom have a flourishing career, and the strength that love outside marriage provides to their tumultuous lives.

Sayonee is the story of Geetika, an erstwhile princess and subsequently queen of a kingdom that doesn’t exist in post-British India. She is a practical person who came to terms with her ‘non-royal’ status while her husband Vikramjeet remains trapped in the royal memories of the past. The correspondence with Shekhar, whom she met and fell in love with during her first year in college, provides her with the courage and guidance to raise her two kids and become a trailblazing businesswoman after the death of her husband. In a foreign land now, she was satisfied with a life well-lived until a news column gave her a bolt from the blue.

Narrated in part epistolatory style, the format of the story is refreshing. The tale underlines that two people don’t have to meet or see each other regularly to remain in love; that true love endures separation, geographies, and time; that instead of hampering other relationships, it reinforces them. The beauty of the story lies in its narrative style. Even though I could predict the ending, it brought tears to my eyes because of how it is described.

Some of my favourite lines from Sayonee include:
\\ It was too early in the morning to guess if the son would find its way through the clouds.
\\ They just took in the distance life had put between them; a distance that seemed infinite yet non-existent. There might have been so much to say after so long. But there hadn’t been. There might have been tears or laughter. But there hadn’t been. There was a wholeness- a completeness- and the calm that it brought to both.
\\ They ate in silence, the cosy comfortable silence of people who share their daily meals. And life.

Humsafar, my favourite story of the lot, is the tale of Rachna, who is happy in her marriage with Rajat and her career as a paediatric doctor. But there is a brief past that she shared with Venkat, a fellow doctor, that now threatens to ruin her happy life. Humsafar shows how the seeds of lingering suspicion can potentially destroy a relationship. More importantly, it brings to the fore that true love is one without expectations, and one can love another in the present despite the knowledge of having no future together.

What impressed me most about the story is the character arc of Rajat. From a loving husband to a suspicious one to the one who realises that shadows from the past can only ruin the present, his character portrays a man that most women would like their real-life husbands to be.

Some of the lines that stood out for me include:
\\ But her recollection of old memories continued inexorably, rushing at her like an oncoming train.
\\ He had never felt so hurt. She had never felt so alone.
\\ They devoted themselves to creating the life they wanted and enjoying the life they created.
\\ It seemed as if all the roles she had played in his life- friend, lover, confidante, wife- had come together in the simple act of her walking down the stairs.

Humraaz, the last and, in my view, the boldest story of the lot, is about Mahima and her transformation from a frustrated housewife who had to give up on her career ambitions to a successful career woman. The love she shares with Sanjay, her first and only employer, gives wing to her aspirations and the strength to cope with what was a marriage of convenience for her husband, Pawan.

Humraaz is a change from the clinging type of love we typically encounter in movies. It shows that true love is about encouraging rather than limiting one another’s career ambitions. Mahima encourages Sanjay to go after his dreams even though that entails him going away from her. Distance is just a number in Humraaz, like in the other stories of SfBS.

Some lines that stood out for me:
\\ Wasn’t that typical of all our habits? Vestiges of our past, which we are too lazy or too sentimental to change; we kept repeating them until they become a part of us- our routine- and our subconscious, without our knowing why.
\\ It was strange how choosing not to engage could also be so exhausting.
\\ Falling in love was like falling into a routine. It was a new beginning in an old setting.
\\ ...they could be together in love but not in daily life.

Shalini Mullick shines in her debut novella. She has an underlying lyrical style to her writing that gives a poetic feeling to her prose. Mullick packs myriad emotions in a few words, leaving the reader satiated yet yearning for more. I look forward to reading a full-fledged novel from her pen.

Stars from the Borderless Sea would be a worthy addition to your reading list. Read the book to appreciate and savour the various shades of love and life.
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Swagata Tarafdar
5.0 out of 5 stars Three romance novellas, three strong women, three personable men
Reviewed in India on 29 May 2022
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"It felt as if he had taken a piece of her with him. A piece she hadn't known existed. A piece that had been hidden deep within her, waiting to be found only by him. He had unearthed it, caressed it lovingly and tenderly, and walked away with it. It would now forever belong to him."
-- "Stars from the Borderless Sea", Shalini Mullick.

There was a time when I loved reading love-stories as much as watching romantic Bollywood movies. Love, once upon a time, seemed a rosy, glossy kind of emotion to me. With age, came wisdom and the love-stories that I used to savour earlier lost their sheen to me. They all seemed too perfect to be true.

"Stars from the Borderless Sea" is a book in the romance genre, a genre that I explored after quite a long time. The book piqued my interest solely because it has been written by Shalini Mullick. I have been reading Shalini's writings for quite a long time and being accustomed to her style of writing, I know that she always creates thought-provoking content. All I can say is that I have not been disappointed after reading the book.

This book is a collection of three romance novellas. None of the stories has a predictable storyline with a conventional happily-ever-after kind of ending. Shalini's protagonists are strong-willed, their love as strong as them. In these three novellas, Shalini has explored how love need not always culminate in a lifetime of togetherness. Love, even if it lasts for a brief period of time, can be healing and can nurture a person's soul for a life-time. "I discovered that, in love, each moment can be a lifetime. And a lifetime of togetherness was what we found with each other. Those moments were so precious to us that we couldn't allow them to be tarnished by the reality that our love would be unrequited." How true!

The first novella is titled "Sayonee" which means soulmate. It's the story of Geetika, descendent of an erstwhile royal family and Shekhar, who dreamed of joining the Indian army. They were college sweethearts. As fate would have it, both didn't complete college and life took them in divergent directions. Yet the love between the two never died.

The second novella is "Humsafar" meaning companion. Rachna, the protagonist, is a paediatrician. When her marriage hit a rock bottom, she found love outside the wedlock in a man named Venkat, her teacher and mentor.

The third and last one is "Humraaz" meaning confidante. In this story, two persons, Mahima and Sanjay, who were both trapped in unhappy marriages, found love and solace in each other.

All three novellas are well-crafted and makes the readers think about love from different perspectives. Shalini's prose is lyrical. Her one-liners make the readers pause and reflect. Like, "...life is the sum of choices. And often, the choices in one's life are made by someone else." Appropriate lines of Rumi's poetry add to the beauty of the stories.

Another thing I must add is that I haven't come across such personable male characters in a long time. Be it Shekhar, Venkat or Sanjay, each one is the epitome of kindness, compassion and determination. They are the kind of men any woman would fall in love with.

Do read the book and discover the magic of love.
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Top reviews from other countries

Rahul Shrivastava
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book
Reviewed in the United States on 25 July 2022
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Well written book. Characters are relatable. One feels the emotions of the characters with their stories and journeys. Read a book after a long time and I enjoyed it.
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Mrs S R
5.0 out of 5 stars Elegantly written portrayal of three very distinct love stories
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 August 2022
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Shalini weaves the stories of three women-distinct and strong- trapped in the circumstances of their marriages. The tales are not run of the mill romances and there is a charm and a dignity to each one of them. I accepted each of the women as real and flawed, and did not judge their choices; and that meant I could enjoy the stories without colouring them with the lens of my own judgements and as a consequence enjoyed walking through the writer’s mind. If I was to pick a favourite story, it would have to be the third one- Humraaz. In second place would be Sayonee- the first story which resonates with an old world charm and decency which seems very alien in today’s world.
Shalini’s voice is a welcome addition to the world of women’s fiction, and I am looking forward to reading her next.
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Preeti Kaur
5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle waves of nostalgia..
Reviewed in the United States on 28 February 2022
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Very well written! The author slowly and gently captures lives with beautifully written prose merging the past and the present. Let this book sway you softly and leave you awash with multiple emotions!
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Ritu Beri
5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Amazing !!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 March 2022
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Life is complex and love can touch us in any manner and become an eternal source of strength ! Shalini has portrayed this in her stories so beautifully !!
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Sonal Mehta
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book!
Reviewed in the United States on 9 April 2022
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Wonderfully written, and beautiful stories very well told. Excellent work by a first time author!
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