The Daughter from a Wishing Tree – Unusual Tales about Women in Mythology by Sudha Murty is a book best gifted to school kids who like to read. To those who are familiar with Hindu mythology, it has very little to offer in terms of “unusual” content.
As an adult reading it, I had a bad case of “expectations versus reality”. I have read almost all the tales from the book as a kid; be it the one about how Godesss Lakshmi came into being, or the one about the slaying of the evil Hayagriva or the age old fable of Nala & Damayanti.
There is no distinct author voice to the tales and felt like a team of text-book editors wrote them. Unlike a Devdutt Pattanaik who spins familiar tales from mythologies with his own little twists and refreshing manner of story-telling.
Some of the stories were too rushed and could have been fleshed out in more pages. The illustrations however were very nice and had a lovely old-school mythological touch to them. Reminded me the regional magazines my grandmother used to read when I was growing up.
Like I said earlier, it would make a good gifting option for school children. But to those who know their Hindu mythologies, the book can be a big letdown. It’s a 3/5 from me.