"Is it true?" It’s the whisper that follows me in every email, the silent query behind every Kindle highlight. When readers encounter the explosive chemistry between Aarti and Girish, or the breathtaking evolution of Aditya, they want to know if characters like these can truly breathe in the same air as us.
Today, I want to answer that with a resounding, "Yes." But the answer is more layered than you might think.
Everything started with a notification. As I mentioned in the book’s preface, The Approved Affair was born from a digital archive, hundreds of high-resolution screenshots of a private diary, emailed to me by a woman I call Aarti. For months, my screens were filled with those handwritten notes, their curves and slants telling a story of a woman navigating the dangerous intersection of duty and desire in an Indian household.
Yes, the events are real. The crushing guilt of the first meeting, the terrifying vulnerability of the confession to her husband, and the radical, almost unbelievable trust that allowed their marriage to not just survive, but flourish, all of it happened.
"I didn't just 'write' this book. I had to inhabit it. I spent hours on calls with the real Aarti, retracing her steps through the bustling streets of Mumbai and into the most private corners of her heart, trying to capture the exact frequency of her courage."
However, as an author, I had a dual responsibility: to protect Aarti's privacy and to tell a story that resonated with the soul of the reader. To do that, I took creative freedoms.
While the emotional core is 100% authentic, I "moved the furniture" of the story. I changed names, combined characters, and added dramatic tension to bridge the gap between a private diary and a compelling novel. I heightened certain moments to reflect the intensity of the feelings rather than the exact timestamp of those private days.
In my former life as a children’s author, my goal was to spark imagination. In writing this, my goal was to spark honesty. There are entries in that diary that were too intimate even for this novel, silences between the lines that still haunt me. Those silences are where the "creative freedom" stepped in, attempting to translate the untranslatable.
So, when you read The Approved Affair, know that you are reading a story built on the foundation of a real woman's courage. The setting might be polished and the pacing a little faster, but the heartbeat of Aarti’s journey is as real as the device you're holding. You can read about the chapters that didn't make the cut to understand the full weight of this choice.
Thank you for trusting me with this story. I hope it gives you the same courage to be exactly who you are. (Follow my Montreal writing routine for more behind-the-scenes.)