There are Seven Notes
Sudha Balagopal

Can music really communicate emotions better than words? Is a person born with music embedded in his DNA? Could two souls bound by music ever find a connection outside of it? Like a superbly arranged musical composition, There are Seven Notes endeavours to sing a song to reveal the unseen bonds between life and music. Eight year old Hamsa suffers through her vocal lessons to satisfy the cultural aspirations of her family—a skilled singer steps away from his professional performance to re-assess his life—and a celebrity father's musical hopes for his son are dashed. The seven stories in There are Seven Notes reveal the pervasiveness of classical music in Indian culture: an attempt once again to fathom the distance between life and art.

Sudha Balagopal was born and raised in India. Her stories have appeared in a number of magazines of international repute. An avid listener and admirer of Indian classical music, Sudha has lived in the United States for the past quarter century. There are Seven Notes is her first book.

‘Sudha Balagopal’s writing crafts quiet, compelling stories full of life’s small but defining moments. Her unique narrative style contains unforeseen character choices that catch the reader off guard—and yet feel absolutely right. Balagopal involves the reader by letting them participate, not only in the narrative events as they unfold, but in the story’s ultimate meaning.’

Martin Etchart
Author of The Good Oak

‘Sudha Balagopal’s stories are infused with a deep understanding and love of music; it is music that lies at the very heart of her characters’ inner worlds. She probes gently beneath seemingly ordinary lives, and through the recurring theme of music, finds in their stories a luminosity and poignancy that is far from ordinary. ’

Anjana Appachana
Author of Listening Now

‘Sudha Balagopal offers us a unique new voice. Her stories are filled with strong characters and compelling situations. When you first discover her work, you are taken in immediately. Her work is thought-provoking, touching, and worth revisiting again and again.’

C.E. Lukather
Editor, TheWritingDisorder.com

‘Sudha Balagopal's short stories will take you along to an emotional journey to knowledge of one’s irrational self.’

Zdravka Evtimova
Author of Miss Daniella and
Pale and Other Postmodern Bulgarian Stories