Where marriage ends with divorce, true life begins. Or so is the case for 29 year-old Lara Reddy who leaves London and the wreck of her ten-year marriage behind to come back to Mauritius, her parents? native land. But fate is often capricious. On the small island, Lara clashes with the closed, gossip-ridden Indian society which casts her away because she is a divorcee. Fortunately, love crosses her path again in the person of Eric Marivaux, her first sweetheart who is determined to win her back. Together, they will have to face the same problem that kept them apart in the past ? their conflicting cultural origins. Prejudice, conventions, cultural segregation? Can love be the answer ?

Light and inspired, The other side deals with deeply Mauritian contemporary themes. The place of divorcees, especially female, within a small island where everyone knows everyone; marriage outside one?s cultural origins; rumours and gossip shouted on rooftops; so many subjects, which help to weave the web of a familiar background for the Mauritian reader. Funny satire, The other side resembles the local TV serial Voisin, Voisine in its realistic portrayal of Mauritian characters.

Aasiyah Qamar is a pen name. Mystery, mystery? She likes reading and writing stories. She has always known that, one day, she would write and it came sooner than she expected. Back in primary school, her teacher used to reprimand her for exceeding the essay word limit. ?You think you?re writing a novel?? He did not know how prophetic his words were!

Like her heroine, the author, a divorcee, has found love again. At 24, she is remarried and the mother of a four-year old son. If marriage is the end of the road, she is the living proof that life exists beyond divorce. To the question ?Is The other side an autobiographical work??, she replies no. ?It is a fiction on the realities of the Mauritian society. It sure records some of my personal experience but I am not Lara. She has not yet found her place. It is only while turning the pages that she becomes a fulfilled woman.? Her book, edited and launched on the occasion of World Book Day by Editions de l?océan Indien is a must-have romance.

<B>Pascaline CHUTTOO</B>