Close Enough To Hold
Pooja Sehgal Malhotra
Please introduce yourself to our readers.
I am Pooja Sehgal Malhotra, a small-town girl with big dreams: hopeless romantic and optimist who grew up as an introvert. After 22 years in the corporate sector, working in multiple departments on different positions, I decided to go back to what I loved doing—writing and that is how I published my first novel, Close Enough To Hold.
What inspired you to write this book?
This story just poured out. I sat down to write a story in one of the conventional genres, a trope that readers nowadays love. I thought I would write a mafia or billionaire romance with a happily-ever-after, but it ended up becoming a love story. I realized I was trying to understand a silence, the kind that follows you long after it begins, into other versions of yourself. By draft nine, I was sure I would not be able to cover the entire story in one book. And that is when I decided it would be a four-part series.
Please tell us about your book. What is it about, and who is it written for?
Close Enough To Hold is set in 1990s Jalandhar. It is a slow-burn story about first love, impossible choices, and the quiet moments that can change the course of a life.
Rather than relying on dramatic twists or instant attraction, the novel takes its time. At its heart, it asks simple, but difficult, questions:
What happens to a woman who loves without permission, but refuses to let that love define her failure or her future?
What does strength look like when it does not shout, protest, or burn bridges?
What becomes of love when timing, not feeling, is the obstacle?
If you love stories that unfold gradually, where the emotional tension lingers long after you have finished the last page, Close Enough To Hold is for you.
What was the most enjoyable or the most challenging part of writing this book?
The most enjoyable part was recreating the world of early 1990s Jalandhar. I grew up in that era, so I was not researching it as much as revisiting it. The neighbourhoods, college campuses, cassette players, handwritten letters, landline telephones, and the slower pace of life all came naturally. I wanted readers to feel as though they had stepped into that world.
The biggest challenge was making sure the nostalgia never took over the story. Every detail had to earn its place by revealing something about the people or moving the story forward.
As the story is based on real-life observations, conversations, and lived experiences, allowing the characters to just be, made the story more honest, even when it was not the easiest path as a writer.
What do you hope readers will take away after reading your book?
I do not expect every reader to walk away with the same takeaway, and I would not want them to. We all bring our own experiences to a story.
If there is one thing that Close Enough To Hold leaves behind, it is a conversation. About timing. About the choices we make because of love, family, or fear. About the people who become part of us, even if they are not part of our lives forever.
More than anything, I hope readers close the book feeling as though they have known these characters personally. If they find themselves thinking about them days later, wondering what they would have done in the same situation, then I’ve done my job.
Where can readers purchase your book? Please share the link.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.in/Close-Enough-Hold-Forbidden-Slow-burn/dp/B0GMWVMC3J
Flipkart: https://dl.flipkart.com/s/IQIc_LNNNN
NotionPress: https://notionpress.com/in/read/close-enough-to-hold