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Invisible Threads
Sara, a therapist, always thought her husband Mike died in Afghanistan —but when she learns he actually died in India, her desire to uncover the truth leads her to a clinic in New Delhi. Once in India, Sara is dazzled by the country’s culture and its people. At the clinic, she grows close both to her patient Pritti and a bewitching, low-caste driver named Hemant. Yet Sara finds herself increasingly appalled at the treatment of women; in this country of old traditions and new opportunities, so much remains shocking or forbidden, like the practice of ‘Devadasi’—prostitutes who work at temples. As Sara inches towards the truth about Mike’s death and their marriage, and becomes entangled in the dark side of Delhi, she is thrust into the terrifying reality of an India few ever see.
- GenresFiction
248 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2015
8 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Beresford
9 books25 followersHi everyone and thanks for reading my books. Hungry for Love explores food and multiple heroes; Invisible Threads explores forbidden love in India, was shortlisted for the Rubery International Prize and is in film development; and Something I’m Not is about love + friendship. I'm also the author of the International best-seller self-help book Happy Relationships: at home, work and play. Follow me on Twitter @lucyberesford
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 8, 2017
This was a very sad story about the lives of women in India and one persons efforts to bring about change. The catalyst was the death of her husband. Some very good character descriptions and a writing style that brings situations to life. Unfortunately this is a situation which will take many generations to change but "from little acorns big oak trees grow" It seems unbelievable that this still occurs in the 21st Century.
July 25, 2015
Sometimes a book will arrive that will leave an indelible mark on you and when I was asked if I would like to review Invisible Threads by Lucy Beresford I had no real idea that this would be THAT book.
This is a deeply moving account of a woman grieving after loss of her husband, who she understood was killed Afghanistan. I found that I was hooked on the story very quickly. We get to know Sara very well and soon she realised that the actual truth about how her husband Mike actually died and more importantly where he died suddenly the book takes on a whole new dimension.
The truth sometimes is stranger than fiction and we find our heroine heading to India and is confronted with the two India’s the colour, the vibrancy and people, then very quickly is confronted with the other. The treatment of women in India in particular the trafficking of women for the sex trade.
I found that Beresford’s style of writing and and the passion for the story line and in particular how she slowly built up the lead character Sara, who I found charming and witty but also someone who could think for herself and would not let go in her pursuit of the truth. The truth when it came for Sara was painful. Mike lied to her about his job and then to find out that when he was killed he was with another woman would destroy a lot of women but not our heroine. Sara after arriving in India became close the one young women Pritti who she then desperately tries to save from the other side of Delhi that the rest of the World may never have known about the sex trade, the human trafficking and who is involved and to what level this goes.
A complex story that is told with tact and also compassion, but at the same time Beresford never shies away from the ‘real’ truths behind the story and her time in India and with The Rescue Foundation helping with trafficked women from Brothels clearly had an impact.
Anyone who enjoys a thriller should have a read of Invisible Threads as it gives the reader much more than this. You will not be disappointed this will leave a mark on you as it has with me. Some may debate as to whether Sara is the lead character or whether India is itself the lead character as Beresford peels back the two sides of India and lets the reader see what Sara see for herself. This is a book that should be on everyone’s to be read list.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
This is a deeply moving account of a woman grieving after loss of her husband, who she understood was killed Afghanistan. I found that I was hooked on the story very quickly. We get to know Sara very well and soon she realised that the actual truth about how her husband Mike actually died and more importantly where he died suddenly the book takes on a whole new dimension.
The truth sometimes is stranger than fiction and we find our heroine heading to India and is confronted with the two India’s the colour, the vibrancy and people, then very quickly is confronted with the other. The treatment of women in India in particular the trafficking of women for the sex trade.
I found that Beresford’s style of writing and and the passion for the story line and in particular how she slowly built up the lead character Sara, who I found charming and witty but also someone who could think for herself and would not let go in her pursuit of the truth. The truth when it came for Sara was painful. Mike lied to her about his job and then to find out that when he was killed he was with another woman would destroy a lot of women but not our heroine. Sara after arriving in India became close the one young women Pritti who she then desperately tries to save from the other side of Delhi that the rest of the World may never have known about the sex trade, the human trafficking and who is involved and to what level this goes.
A complex story that is told with tact and also compassion, but at the same time Beresford never shies away from the ‘real’ truths behind the story and her time in India and with The Rescue Foundation helping with trafficked women from Brothels clearly had an impact.
Anyone who enjoys a thriller should have a read of Invisible Threads as it gives the reader much more than this. You will not be disappointed this will leave a mark on you as it has with me. Some may debate as to whether Sara is the lead character or whether India is itself the lead character as Beresford peels back the two sides of India and lets the reader see what Sara see for herself. This is a book that should be on everyone’s to be read list.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
July 25, 2015
Sometimes a book will arrive that will leave an indelible mark on you and when I was asked if I would like to review Invisible Threads by Lucy Beresford I had no real idea that this would be THAT book.
This is a deeply moving account of a woman grieving after loss of her husband, who she understood was killed Afghanistan. I found that I was hooked on the story very quickly. We get to know Sara very well and soon she realised that the actual truth about how her husband Mike actually died and more importantly where he died suddenly the book takes on a whole new dimension.
The truth sometimes is stranger than fiction and we find our heroine heading to India and is confronted with the two India’s the colour, the vibrancy and people, then very quickly is confronted with the other. The treatment of women in India in particular the trafficking of women for the sex trade.
I found that Beresford’s style of writing and and the passion for the story line and in particular how she slowly built up the lead character Sara, who I found charming and witty but also someone who could think for herself and would not let go in her pursuit of the truth. The truth when it came for Sara was painful. Mike lied to her about his job and then to find out that when he was killed he was with another woman would destroy a lot of women but not our heroine. Sara after arriving in India became close the one young women Pritti who she then desperately tries to save from the other side of Delhi that the rest of the World may never have known about the sex trade, the human trafficking and who is involved and to what level this goes.
A complex story that is told with tact and also compassion, but at the same time Beresford never shies away from the ‘real’ truths behind the story and her time in India and with The Rescue Foundation helping with trafficked women from Brothels clearly had an impact.
Anyone who enjoys a thriller should have a read of Invisible Threads as it gives the reader much more than this. You will not be disappointed this will leave a mark on you as it has with me. Some may debate as to whether Sara is the lead character or whether India is itself the lead character as Beresford peels back the two sides of India and lets the reader see what Sara see for herself. This is a book that should be on everyone’s to be read list.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
This is a deeply moving account of a woman grieving after loss of her husband, who she understood was killed Afghanistan. I found that I was hooked on the story very quickly. We get to know Sara very well and soon she realised that the actual truth about how her husband Mike actually died and more importantly where he died suddenly the book takes on a whole new dimension.
The truth sometimes is stranger than fiction and we find our heroine heading to India and is confronted with the two India’s the colour, the vibrancy and people, then very quickly is confronted with the other. The treatment of women in India in particular the trafficking of women for the sex trade.
I found that Beresford’s style of writing and and the passion for the story line and in particular how she slowly built up the lead character Sara, who I found charming and witty but also someone who could think for herself and would not let go in her pursuit of the truth. The truth when it came for Sara was painful. Mike lied to her about his job and then to find out that when he was killed he was with another woman would destroy a lot of women but not our heroine. Sara after arriving in India became close the one young women Pritti who she then desperately tries to save from the other side of Delhi that the rest of the World may never have known about the sex trade, the human trafficking and who is involved and to what level this goes.
A complex story that is told with tact and also compassion, but at the same time Beresford never shies away from the ‘real’ truths behind the story and her time in India and with The Rescue Foundation helping with trafficked women from Brothels clearly had an impact.
Anyone who enjoys a thriller should have a read of Invisible Threads as it gives the reader much more than this. You will not be disappointed this will leave a mark on you as it has with me. Some may debate as to whether Sara is the lead character or whether India is itself the lead character as Beresford peels back the two sides of India and lets the reader see what Sara see for herself. This is a book that should be on everyone’s to be read list.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
April 15, 2016
There are books that just stay with you, and I honestly think this will be one of them.
I cannot praise this enough - It was evocative, it was gritty, it was passionate, and it was emotionally charged
Lucy has done a spectacular job in writing about something I knew little about, but now have an active interest in learning more about - The very human side of human sex trafficking, and the seedy underside to India
The story following Sara, who learns that her late husband didnt die, as she had been led to believe, in Afghanistan, but instead in India. Filled with the understandable urge to find answers to questions she has, she travels to India, and finds there not only her answers, but also a quest that will assist her in healing her fractured heart, and discovering a new passion
The characters were so real. It was witty, but at the same time poignant, and I felt a kinship to both the main protaganist, and many of the secondary characters. Lucy does a spectuacular job in describing the surroundings, and background personalities [Something i had commented on in my review of "Hungry for Love"]
The book never shied away from the issues it was approaching, and at the same time, it broached them with a gentleness that allowed you to see, not only how it appeared as an outsider, but also to understand the mindset and culture behind it - I liked that it gave you as the reader a chance to see the whole picture, and decide yourself where you stood on the issue
Its obvious that Lucy has had first hand experience in dealing with the survivors of the sex trade, and her research and knowledge are evident in every chapter. Her passion is clear in every word, and I honestly felt choked up in sections of the book
I will be recommending this to others to read - and I will definately be putting this somewhere to read again when I need an afternoon to distract myself with something so much bigger than whatever I have going on
I cannot praise this enough - It was evocative, it was gritty, it was passionate, and it was emotionally charged
Lucy has done a spectacular job in writing about something I knew little about, but now have an active interest in learning more about - The very human side of human sex trafficking, and the seedy underside to India
The story following Sara, who learns that her late husband didnt die, as she had been led to believe, in Afghanistan, but instead in India. Filled with the understandable urge to find answers to questions she has, she travels to India, and finds there not only her answers, but also a quest that will assist her in healing her fractured heart, and discovering a new passion
The characters were so real. It was witty, but at the same time poignant, and I felt a kinship to both the main protaganist, and many of the secondary characters. Lucy does a spectuacular job in describing the surroundings, and background personalities [Something i had commented on in my review of "Hungry for Love"]
The book never shied away from the issues it was approaching, and at the same time, it broached them with a gentleness that allowed you to see, not only how it appeared as an outsider, but also to understand the mindset and culture behind it - I liked that it gave you as the reader a chance to see the whole picture, and decide yourself where you stood on the issue
Its obvious that Lucy has had first hand experience in dealing with the survivors of the sex trade, and her research and knowledge are evident in every chapter. Her passion is clear in every word, and I honestly felt choked up in sections of the book
I will be recommending this to others to read - and I will definately be putting this somewhere to read again when I need an afternoon to distract myself with something so much bigger than whatever I have going on
October 1, 2016
The premise for Invisible Threads interested me; Sara a therapist believed her husband, a soldier died in Afghanistan, but found out he died in India. A therapist, Sara goes to Delhi, where she will work as a therapist while seeking the truth about her husband’s fate.
I began the novel with great expectations only to be irritated by Beresford’s choice of first person, and the present tense. She tackles many of India’s problems, particularly those concerning women whom she portrays as mere victims of lust. “To her great surprise, the carriages on her train were segregated. Male passengers, at either end leered and whistled at the forbidden fruit; Eve Teasing is the trivialising euphemism she has seen the media here used, for all forms of sexual harassment.”
Beresford paints vivid word pictures of Delhi: “…roads crammed with shops selling jewellery, cooking utensils, Halal meat. Another street sells tyres and car parts, its workshops open to the road. Half-naked men stand welding, their bronzed skin glistening in the flare of the kerosene lamps.”
As I read the first third of Invisible Threads I cared less and less about the characters and the style irritated me more and more. I was not enjoying the novel so I put it aside.
I congratulate Beresford on the scope of Invisible Threads in the part I finished but I doubt I will ever want to read the rest.
I began the novel with great expectations only to be irritated by Beresford’s choice of first person, and the present tense. She tackles many of India’s problems, particularly those concerning women whom she portrays as mere victims of lust. “To her great surprise, the carriages on her train were segregated. Male passengers, at either end leered and whistled at the forbidden fruit; Eve Teasing is the trivialising euphemism she has seen the media here used, for all forms of sexual harassment.”
Beresford paints vivid word pictures of Delhi: “…roads crammed with shops selling jewellery, cooking utensils, Halal meat. Another street sells tyres and car parts, its workshops open to the road. Half-naked men stand welding, their bronzed skin glistening in the flare of the kerosene lamps.”
As I read the first third of Invisible Threads I cared less and less about the characters and the style irritated me more and more. I was not enjoying the novel so I put it aside.
I congratulate Beresford on the scope of Invisible Threads in the part I finished but I doubt I will ever want to read the rest.
July 27, 2015
This sure-footed and well-researched novel creates a compelling story about a psychiatrist whose desire to discover the truth about her dead husband takes her from her home in England to modern Delhi. There she becomes embroiled in India’s horrific sex industry, and a riveting mystery that the author unpacks with patience and dexterity. Particularly impressive is the unflinching, often harrowing examination of India’s sex trade, and the country’s attitude to women in general. Beneath the exotic beauty of India there is a darkness that Beresford takes laudable pains to expose, and which she portrays with convincing depth and arresting clarity.
Rubery Book Award
Rubery Book Award
August 9, 2016
I read this book while travelling in India, which is what made me buy it in the first place. The picture Lucy Beresford paints of India is so true and raw and yet also uplifting. Sara's search for answers really resonated with me, and I also liked her boss Trevor saying that people go to India thinking they will be changed - that was what I thought would happen to me too! And it does change you, but not always in the ways you expect - which is what happened to Sara. I loved the character of Rafi and how he too needed to find his own path. And the descriptions of food and fabric in India were perfect.
August 9, 2016
I read this book while travelling in India, which is what made me buy it in the first place. The picture Lucy Beresford paints of India is so true and raw and yet also uplifting. Sara's search for answers really resonated with me, and I also liked her boss Trevor saying that people go to India thinking they will be changed - that was what I thought would happen to me too! And it does change you, but not always in the ways you expect - which is what happened to Sara. I loved the character of Rafi and how he too needed to find his own path. And the descriptions of food and fabric in India were perfect.
October 31, 2015
Beautiful story about the sad truths of how women are treated in India. Very eye opening, educational but still has a romance and great story to keep the reader engaged. I recommend it to any one that is interested in learning about India and likes a good story to be the vehicle of instruction.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about India, and particularly what it is like to be a women in India. A great story used as the vehicle in educating the reader on the culture and the contrasting way women are viewed and treated in India. Fascinating.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about India, and particularly what it is like to be a women in India. A great story used as the vehicle in educating the reader on the culture and the contrasting way women are viewed and treated in India. Fascinating.
August 9, 2016
A deep, dark look at the ambiguities and underworlds in modern India. While a love story at heart, and clearly written out of love for India itself, the author doesn't shy away from the horrors of the sex trafficking industry and the way prostitution is tacitly abetted by the authorities, both religious and police. Not always easy, but gripping throughout.
February 7, 2016
A shocking insight into the reality of life for many women in India today, tempered by the story of Sara who has come to India to uncover the truth about the death of her husband.
April 9, 2017
Honestly don't know why I persisted with finishing this book. It was incredibly clunky the whole way through - questionable feminism presented, cultural differences demonstrated in frustratingly clumsy ways, plus the classic 'privileged westerner must fix everything in another part of the world that isn't as advanced in equality as England.' It was downright offensive at times, and seeing reviews say that this was 'enlightening' and 'eye-opening' is truly baffling.
Having read some wonderful books about clashes of culture and the struggle for equality for women and non-white people recently, this was jarring. Even the romantic sub-plot made me roll my eyes at every turn.
Like I said, I have no idea why I felt the need to finish it.
Having read some wonderful books about clashes of culture and the struggle for equality for women and non-white people recently, this was jarring. Even the romantic sub-plot made me roll my eyes at every turn.
Like I said, I have no idea why I felt the need to finish it.
April 11, 2017
Brilliant read. This book is totally different to my normal crime books. Without giving to much away unviable threads is about a women who travel to India to discover what happened to her husband. While she is there she discovers the horro in which women are treated and works to help them. I was sorry to see this book end and was hoping to read more.
Overall if you want a change in your current genre and read a bit of reality this is a great book to start with.
Overall if you want a change in your current genre and read a bit of reality this is a great book to start with.
April 12, 2017
I had this book on my Kindle and hadn't remembered what it was about. I read about Sara, who finds out that her husband, who recently died, didn't die in Afganistan as thought, but in India. She decides to travel to India to find out more.... This had me hooked.
Sara is a very likeable, intelligent person. In the course of the book I saw her change and grow.
What I liked most were the descriptions of India. I could almost see and smell the colours and the food. I have never been to India, so I don't know how authentic the descriptions are, but I felt I was there.
Of course the main story is about the position of women, the traficking and the sex trade. It is harrowing and sobering to read about that.
A good story, well told with believable characters. It would make a good film too.
Sara is a very likeable, intelligent person. In the course of the book I saw her change and grow.
What I liked most were the descriptions of India. I could almost see and smell the colours and the food. I have never been to India, so I don't know how authentic the descriptions are, but I felt I was there.
Of course the main story is about the position of women, the traficking and the sex trade. It is harrowing and sobering to read about that.
A good story, well told with believable characters. It would make a good film too.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews