“Your latest novel – cover to cover – brilliant”

That was the subject of the email that hit Mark’s eyes as he opened his email inbox.

Nothing will delight a writer, you will agree, more than solid appreciation from his reader.

And when the reader happened to be his best friend, and when that best friend happened to be a bright and beautiful lady – both happened to Mark in this case – you can be certain that the feeling bordered on euphoria.

Mark’s latest novel, based on an intensive research on the factors leading to climate change, was expected by many critics to become a bestseller. Running for over 300 pages, it was still considered a page-turner – though one still had to turn over 150 pages.

Mark was not new to the world of best-sellers. Two of his novels had made it to the Amazon bestsellers list, and the second of these was close to hitting the million sales mark.

What made the feedback special was it coming from Ayesha. A model, businesswoman, and socialite rolled into one, Ayesha was considered one of the smartest people in London. And busiest.

Sadly, among her many positive virtues, reading books was not one. In fact, she had confessed to Mark quite a few times that she could never bring herself to read books, any book – not even a short story, let alone novels. A pity, he felt and she agreed without inhibition, as this meant she could not show off in the midst of self-proclaimed intellectuals, inspite of having best-selling writers as her close friends.

To have Ayesha read his book – that too cover to cover – was just awesome. More than awesome, almost unbelievable. For a non-reader of even short stories to finish a novel running into hundreds of pages takes enormous enthusiasm and passion – or possibly, his mind started relishing the thought, his novel was really exceptional.

Coming out of his reverie, Mark clicked open the email…and ran his eyes pleasurably over the words…

“Dear Mark,

Thank you for sending me a copy of your latest novel.

As you well know, I’m a poor reader, and that, as you again know, is an understatement.

I however looked at it cover to cover – the front and back covers. The illustrations and images are brilliant. Someday, I promise, I will try to read it.

Love

Ayesha”