'It is such a coincidence that the characters in my book make their life changing decisions on the day of a total solar eclipse on a Monday. And India will see a total solar eclipse July 22,' Virani laughed.

Born to Gujarati Muslim parents in Mumbai, 50-year-old Virani has a degree in journalism from Columbia University. She shuttles between Mumbai, Delhi and Pune.

Virani earned wide acclaim for 'Bitter Chocolate' -- a book on the sexual abuse of children in middle and upper class Indian homes.

However, before 'Bitter Chocolate', she authored two other non-fiction books -- 'Aruna's Story' recreated the real-life story of a nurse from Karnataka who was raped and left in a coma in Mumbai, while 'Once was Bombay' looked at the near collapse of the city 'ravaged by communal and social strains and terrorism'.

''Deaf Heaven' is a departure (from my earlier work) in the sense that I have tried to make contemporary history approachable to readers and manageable to understand. I tried to provide solutions and wanted every tax paying Indian to be a part of those solutions,' she said.

'Being a Bombaywali helped,' Virani said, along with the fact that 'we are seeing so many different forms of terrorism like religious terror, language terror and Naxal terror'.

'My profession -- editor of a Mumbai eveninger -- helped me probe the faultlines. The book is a progression from 'Aruna's Story' which was about a collapsing city and its working women. This book is about collapsing India,' Virani said.

Virani is currently working on a stand alone novel to be called 'Bloody Hell'.