Blossom in the Blaze: A Novel (Hardbound - 1993)

Is there possibility to bring about deep and abiding transformation in human psyche? Shyamsunder, an orthodox man believing in traditions, conventions and superstitions accidentally faces a trauma in relationship with his wife, discards 'self like a snake, emerges a new man with sensitivity and capacity to face life and do the right thing.

Satya suffers ill-treatment from a brutal father, runs away from home, has his own career, marries and has a family of four children. Suddenly he realises that he is alone, his wife and children do not belong to him, runs again, remarries and has a life of his own. He is not the product of cramming-oriented education to get destroyed.

Anuradha who lives with her immoral mother is not destroyed. She comes out of the blaze with renewed strength, marries a rich man only to be widowed, inherits vast wealth, manages tactfully; yet she has a problem; perpetuation of the family clan, a successor to the vast wealth!

Savitha discovers that she has been wilfully deceived by Anil, treasures her illegitimate child, brings him up in an orphanage, seduces Shyam-sunder, a man then of sixty and finally after much suffering reunites with her lover.

The book also traces the identity crisis in modern life, views it favourably as a progressive trend towards shaping a new dynamic society.

Shri Narayan H. Nayak was born in Konalli, Kumta, a coastal town in Karnataka. After completion of his education in B.Sc. (Hons.) with Zoology in First Class in 1949 from Bombay University, he was awarded a foreign scholarship for higher studies in oceanography in Canada. During this period, he came upon explosive experiences on the spiritual plane and gave up everything.

His previous two books, Wheel of Life and Aswini (A Novel) have been well received.