In this week’s edition of Inspired By, we want to wish Juliet Philip a Happy Launch Day for The Runaway Daughter, the story of a young girl who lives in a magical world that shields her from a society where strange men act like they own the women walking down the street, and where her mother sells her body in exchange for a life of luxury.

Available now on on Kindle and on Paperback.

Here, in her own words, Juliet shares her top five books that have inspired her as a writer.

 

The God of Small Things by Arundathi Roy

“The God of Small Things is my all time favorite book.

This is a story about a Syrian Christian family living in a small town called Ayemenem in Kerala, India. The reason I love it is because it is the first book that made me examine my own life. I was born and raised in a similar society in Bombay, India which also had deeply rooted prejudices about caste, skin color and religion.

In the book, Baby Kochamma—the antagonist falls in love with an Irish priest and because her love was never accepted, she grows bitter over the years and into someone who revels in the misfortune of others. Throughout the story, she manipulates events and uses culture, tradition and religious beliefs as leverage for her actions. After I read the book, for several weeks, I was mulling over how human desperation and strong desire for freedom and love emerge from the confines of a firmly entrenched caste society. Because I was born and raised in a similar society in India, even if the story offered me a bird’s eye view, I could relate to many aspects of the book. What I can never forget about the story is how fraternal twins Rahel and Estha end up having sex and breaking the love law, which states who should be loved and how much.  It just left me thinking and thinking and thinking.”

 

Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

“This is my most beloved book.

It is a wonderful, thrilling autobiographical story of Gregory David Roberts who escapes a prison in Australia and flees to India. While in India, he learns to speak Hindi and Marathi and opens a makeshift clinic. He finds a bestie in a taxi driver and a lover in a Swiss woman. This book made me cry, inspired me, and made me cry some more.  After I read this book, all I wanted was more of it.”

 

 

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

“This book is perfect perfection.

This is one of the books I think every girl can relate to. After reading the book, I remember hating Amy March (I don’t hate her any more) and loving Beth and Jo March. I still love them both and always will. I didn’t really care very much about the other characters. When I think of the book now, some parts could strike me as a little preachy about how girls should be ‘good’ but at the time I read it, it left the warmest, most fuzzy feelings in my heart and I will forever be grateful to the author for allowing me to experience such soul stirring emotions.”

 

 

 

The Better Man by Anita Nair

“This book is pure awesomeness and was such a good read.

The characters are quirky and distinct; they have the idiosyncrasies of people who stay in one isolated place forever, never wander and are rarely visited. The story’s hero, a 60-year-old bachelor, returns to the village he was raised in after a little wandering. What I loved most about the book is the author’s style of writing; she gives so much attention to detail and paints such great word pictures.”

 

 

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton

“I love this book from the bottom of my heart and it is closest to my soul.

When I was growing up, when something made me upset, sad or angry, I would look outside the window and promise myself that someday I would find Jo, Bessie, Fanny and the now diminishing, but then popular, Dick and join them on their magical adventures. I would climb up the tree, go down Moon Face’s slippery slip and meet Silky the Fairy. Surely, I would avoid peeping into the Angry Pixie’s house and visit the Land of Do-As-You-Please and the Land of Chocolate.”

 

P.S. Don’t forget to check out The Runaway Daughter-inspired #Pinterest Board!