To Each With Love is a play of human nature on a vibrant canvas portraying a diverse range of characters – some similar, still quite apart. The stories, being an expression of the experiential reality of contemporary Indian infrastructure, present a fascinating study of the relational script of people belonging to a varied social milieu.

Hence, these tales covering a variant strata of society, reflect, psychologically speaking, tension and turmoil pertaining to the gaping class contrast. The gripping narrative in many a story brings to fore human nature at its ultimate perfection, playing games by subterfuge and subversion. The events are replete with surprises and shocks. Humour and acerbic wit lend light-heartedness, creating comic effect in the midst of overwrought situations. Simply put, satire at its best…

Ranchan’s stories have a strange charisma about them, and that is what seduced me to read them with pleasure and immense interest. They explore the hypocrisy of Indian society at every level, and she delves deep into the psychology of the devastating Indian Mother figure, who sustains, and at the same time devours Mother India.

Renée Ranchan hails from the pine-breezed mountains and many seasons ago reluctantly set-up home in dusty Delhi. She spends her day sipping Darjeeling, having marathon telephonic conversations with her mother, dodging the sole two endearing men in her life – her son and husband. And yes, hiding highly unsuccessfully from deadlines that have a way of following her around like Mary’s Little Lamb… 

Having had long exposure to both the East and the West, she lends amazing depth to the stories, given her perceptive perspective on the changing values of present-day India. She paints, as if with the stroke of a brush, characters live and vibrant on the canvas. No wonder, her writings happen to transfer the medium of colour and contour to her picturesque words. And rich literary sensibility, undoubtedly, emboldens her style, uniquely her own. She plays with language freely and creatively, conveying images and emotions so aptly and precisely. 

Though Ranchan has been a columnist and feature writer for various publications, she’s essentially a poet at heart. Her beautiful book of verse, Untwine the Wind, was widely acclaimed. A few years ago, she was chosen to be a Writer-in-Residence at Martha’s Vineyard, Writers’ Residency Program. Her interest in the writings of the Brontë Sisters also led her to recently pursue a study course at the University of Oxford. Presently, she is on a non-paid sabbatical, travelling terrains dissimilar.