It required a little bit of coaxing and a little bit of pestering from my sister before I picked this short story. The story is written by a friend of my sister’s and she would not stop singing praise.
I decided to pick this one up because it said it would take me just 10 minutes to read it. A book that I initially had to finish as an obligation turned out to be something I did not want to finish this soon.
Let me confess. I saw a little bit of myself in the author. A strong connection with words. Words that are stringed together elegantly to describe the mysteriousness of a woman. Words that mean something, not random jibber jabber. Words carefully picked as it would be an offering to the Gods. Sacred, therefore selective. I moved on from descriptions after descriptions to come by the thrill and was content towards the end.
A mysterious woman comes to live in a town who mesmerises all the men and women alike. She is the talk of the town. But she is completely unaffected by the attention. She has her focus drawn to something else. Now if I say something more than I will be revealing the plot. It is a short story that is meant to be read in 10 minutes.
Following is a short passage from the story:
Once upon a time in a faraway town, arrived a girl, who soon became a mystery in the minds of many and a puzzle that most of the town desperately tried to solve in vain. Nobody knew her name. Nobody knew where she lived, or where she came from. Only once in every week people saw her, and then nobody would see her for the remaining days, as though she never existed.
As time passed, curiosity rose in the minds of people regarding her identity. After several attempts to extract her name turned futile, they labelled her Nameless. The hype surrounding her kept soaring, forcing the notoriously inquisitive minds to come up with theories that rapidly spread as rumours until the girl, only a mortal, became mystical.
And while imagination did the work there, it was of little use against the young men swooning over the girl’s beauty. Their worried mothers kept them from falling for her, who fell for her nevertheless, for the girl was immensely beautiful, like a goddess descended straight from heaven. She had big sapphire eyes keeping the splendour and enigma of an ocean entrapped within. Her hair, straight and brown, covered her back, ending slightly below her waist. While she walked, she carried the poise of a princess, and the charm of a lady who had just come of age.
As much as I enjoyed the tale I would resist calling it perfect. There is a little extravagance. A description a little overboard, sentences a bit too draggy. Perfection is when if you add or remove something you only prepare for its destruction. I did feel that I could have removed a few sentences here and there to keep the story short and alive.
There author seems to have great potential. He possesses skill that most established ones still struggle with. I guess just a little bit of tease will help the thrill and keep the romance alive.
The story is currently free on Kindle. To read it please follow the link.
Go ahead, grab yourself a copy of The 10-Minute Tale - 1 and tell us what you think about the book! If you are a Kindle person, ensure to select the Kindle edition of the book.
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