In The Plucker, we meet Pria, an Indian girl living with her family in the USA. She has several issues, which seem to stem from her parents’ ethnic origin, which they still adhere to. Pria finds things such as saris and curry embarrassing as she tries to blend in with the white American majority around her. She is particularly conscious of the colour of her skin and fantasises about being a white-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed princess.
These tensions and internal conflicts lead to her developing several Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, which also bother her, while providing comfort at the same time.
Pria’s obsessive compulsive disorders and her Indian heritage result in her leading a solitary life, although she does feel an affinity for a neighbour and classmate, George, not that they ever play together or even talk. In her early twenties, Pria learns that he is in a mental home, and she decides to try to help him. However, after just one visit, she comes to the conclusion that he is happy as he is, and the reader is given a glimmer of hope that Pria will start her recovery too.
The Plucker is a thought-provoking story, which offers an insight into how difficult it can be for some people to fit into the culture of a society, which is not originally their own.
Miss Cassidy does a particularly good job of describing Pria’s thoughts and consequent reasons for doing what she does, but the other characters are also well drawn.
The Plucker is part of a collection of novels called The World of Spilt Milk, which I gather can be read in any order. I really enjoyed The Plucker and will be looking at its companion novels.
Owen Jones, Amazon Best-Selling Author from Barry, Wales, has lived in several countries and travelled in many more. While studying Russian in the USSR in the '70's, he hobnobbed with spies on a regular basis; in Suriname, he got caught up in the 1982 coup; and while a company director, he joined the crew of four as the galley slave to sail from Barry to Gibraltar a home-made concrete yacht, which was almost rammed by a Russian oil tanker and an American aircraft carrier.
“I am a Celt, and we are romantic”, he said when asked about his writing style, “and I firmly believe in reincarnation, Karma and Fate, so, sayings like 'Do unto another...', and 'What goes round comes around' are central to my life and reflected in my work. I write about what I see, or think I see, or dream... and, in the end it is all the same really”. He speaks seven languages and is learning Thai, since he lives in Thailand with his Thai wife of fifteen years.
His first novel, Daddy's Hobby is from the seven-part series 'Behind The Smile: The Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya', but his largest collection is 'The Megan Series', twenty-three novelettes on the psychic development of a teenage girl, the subtitle of which, 'A Spirit Guide, A Ghost Tiger and One Scary Mother!' sums them up nicely. He has written fifty novels and novelettes, including: Dead Centre; Andropov's Cuckoo; Fate Twister; The Disallowed (a philosophical comedy); Tiger Lily of Bangkok; and A Night in Annwn (Annwn being the ancient Welsh word for Heaven). Many have been translated into foreign languages and narrated into audio books.
Owen Jones writes stories set in Wales, Spain and Thailand, where he now lives. He is a life-long Spiritualist, and this belief is interwoven, in a very realistic way, into many of his books and storylines. If you like a touch of the 'supernatural', try his books
He sums his life up thus: “Born in the Land of Song, Living in the Land of Smiles”.
