About the Book Awalling a Knock at My Door, a Sahitya Akademi Award winning Gujarati novel, is a landmark novel in Gujarati literature that deals with the theme of leprosy. It is a heart wrenching story based on real life situations. The narrative explores the hitherto unexplored, taboo ridden world of lepers in general and that of Gujarat in particular. By focusing on the lives of lepers, it highlights the stigma of the society. Rupa, the protagonist, is a touching instance of a loving wife, doting mother and caring sister-in-law, who, suddenly falling prey to the signs of leprosy, loses her paradise called 'sweet home'. Her plight as a leper provides a peep into an ugly face of the society. Her transformation and re-union with her son is a mixture of climax and counter climax of the story. It is not surprising that the novel fetched three prestigious awards, Sahitya Akademi Award. Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad Sabarmati Puraskar, Kolkata and Gujarat Vidyasabha Sanman.
About the Author Varsha Adalaja (b. 1940), an acclaimed novelist. She has been participating in plays ever since her childhood and have played roles in many classics. She is a distinguished freelance journalist and creative writer too and has about 50 publications to her credit. including novels, short story collections, plays, essays, travelogues and edited compilations. Her novel Mare Pan Ek Ghar Hoye won the Best novel of the year prize from Gujarati Sahitya Parishad. She has been part of Gujarat Sahitya Parishad and Sahitya Academy in various capacities. In 2005 she was bestowed with the most prestigious honour of Gujarat, Ranjitram Gold Medal, for her literary contribution to Gujarati Literature. She has been invited to attend scores of conferences and literary conventions in more than fifteen countries.
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