Unlocked: Historical Tales in Verse by Sonia Dogra Book Review

Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 127
Published: May 2020
Format: Ebook
Rating: 5/5 stars

Summary:

Is history your Waterloo? No more! The anthem ‘History is Boring’ is now passé. Here is a collection of historical tales about rebellious dancers and whiskeys; mysterious burials and missing keys; lost medals and quarantines and all you could only imagine to be. Presenting twenty-five delectable stories from the past that you may never have heard of before. What’s more? They are sassy and classy; easy and breezy; terse and very much in verse!

Review:

History in verse! Sonia Dogra is out to dispel the myth that history is boring with her new book Unlocked: Historical Tales in Verse. And boy, does she succeed! She unlocks stories from years gone by and attempts to “lyrically rekindle your love for history as a subject”.

The book is divided into two sections – The Famous and the Infamous, and Epoch Making Episodes. Each chapter includes a backstory at the end of the verse to understand the event better. It is peppered with illustrations and footnotes.

The book is a collection of twenty-five events from history in verse that would have you turning the pages. Some old and some fairly recent. Some that bring out a chuckle and some too disturbing to read. Some that history forgot and some we wish we were able to forget. The amount of research involved is evident in each chapter.

The book appeals to both kids and adults alike. The author has a way with words. Such is the power of her quill that she manages to build empathy for someone like Hitler. That was not something she was targeting, though.

I was introduced to the author’s stunning writing skills during her Shimla series in September 2019. The language of the book is simple and easy to read. It is a book you can enjoy in one sitting. One that you wish did not end. It is tough to choose favorites (a missing key, a narrow escape, the list goes on). But my absolute favorite was Virangana – The Valiant Woman. The women that history forgot. A must-read.

The clarion trumpeter called aloud
It was time to be in the battleground
The enemy was well within sight
And our (s)heroes all ready to fight
Is Lakshmibai the lone Indian warrior
queen you know?
There were more like her who lived long ago
Immortal names from Indian history
Let’s add to your list more stories
of bravery

The book leaves you wanting more… in a good way. Quoting the author, it is only a drop in the ocean. There are so many of these wonderfully historical stories waiting to be heard. All in all, I enjoyed the book and I would highly recommend it.

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Unlocked by Sonia Dogra is free to download for a limited time at Blochatter as a part of the #BlogchatterEbook Carnival. Grab your copy today.

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About the author

Sonia Dogra worked as a teacher and a reporter for a children’s newspaper before she decided to switch over to freelance proofreading services. Her random ramblings on her blog ‘A Hundred Quills’ turned into serious writing as she began to pen for various online portals. She has been a part of an anthology, ‘Poems from 30 Best Poets’, published in 2019 by Literatureslight. She also has a collection of poems titled ‘Life, Women and Everything in Between’ on Juggernaut. She can be caught napping on Twitter @SoniaDogra16 or slightly proactive at A Hundred Quills.

This review is the first in the BlogchatterEbook series where I will be talking about some of my favorite books from their 2020 library. Ranging from fiction to non-fiction to culture to food, you can access the complete library here.

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