Samantha Menard
Senior Reporter
Keene State Professor Brinda Charry has been receiving national attention for her latest novel, Hocus Pocus, released on Aug. 11. The novel has been mentioned in the New York Times, the Boston Globe and the Library Journal, following previous success for her 2023 novel titled The East Indian.
Charry said that while getting recognition for her work is satisfying, she believes that all writers should have confidence in their own work to begin with, including her students.
She said, “I work with a lot of young writers, and I see how interested and passionate they can be. Young people are so invested in their creativity, and I find that very moving. In a world that values so many other things, young people are still invested in being creative, and that really inspires me.”
Senior Caitlyn Baga-Greene, a former student of Charry’s said, “She’s very straightforward, perceptive, and particular with her words. I think she’s such a good professor because she’s blunt in a way that shows that she’s genuinely interested in what her students are putting out. She’s a great academic and a really great author.”
Charry said her career as a professor had given her the ability to research and be aware of the complexities of the past. She said academic training “teaches you to not view things in black and white,” and to “not simplify too much.”
Hocus Pocus takes place in the 1800’s and focuses on Samuel Thomas, an “extremely ambitious” magician, and Walter Mepham, an “eccentric” museum runner. Charry described the novel as being about “art, ambition and desire.”
“[For Samuel] I was really interested in pursuing art and ambition. How does he not just pursue it, but to what extent is he ready to compromise and do things he doesn’t want to, in order to be successful? He’s a young man who makes a series of compromises, because he wants to build this fantastic career. And Walter first sees him as this exotic object that he wants as part of his museum,” she said.
According to Charry, Samuel travels from India to America to fulfill his dream of making it big as a performer. After their paths cross in Boston, Walter serves as both a mentor and someone struggling with his growing attraction towards Samuel.
When asked about her process for writing about a time period so different from the present day, Charry said that she “immerses” herself in the world. “It’s essentially a lot of reading and a huge feat of imagination where you’re recreating something that is lost now,” she said.
She continued, “For The East Indian, I looked at the first person of Indian heritage who came to America in the 1600’s. For this [Hocus Pocus], I was inspired by an article about stage magicians from India who performed in Boston and New York during the 1800’s.”
Charry said, “Readers from this part of the world [New England], can expect to be transported. You get a sense of what life might have been like here, over 200 years ago. It’s [historical fiction] not just about what people wore, or how they spoke, but the important forces in society at that point in time. You have to create a whole world for your readers.”
Charry, referred to on her website as a “novelist-turned-academic-returned-novelist,” will be appearing at the New Hampshire Book Festival on Oct. 3 to present Hocus Pocus. She will be doing a similar presentation at the Boston Book Festival on Oct.17.
After doing scholarly work for many years, Charry shared that she decided to get back into fiction writing because it was her “first love.” In addition to her two published novels, she has a series of other books available on Goodreads.
Samantha Menard can be contacted at
smenard@kscequinox.com
