You’re Not Alone is set in a Girl’s High School in Mumbai. The novel is woven around a group of 14 – 16-year-old girls of an academic class who have closely related lives, belonging to the same social circle but still feel disconnected and apart from one another. On the surface, they live perfect lives but something doesn’t quite fit. Each of them, underneath the façade of normalcy, has a deep- rooted feeling of isolation and leads a troubled life. As the narrative plays out, it explores each girl’s life and the events that have a profound personal effect on the main characters. A bond is created in the midst of their confusion – tackling issues that face urban youth around the world. From thoughts of suicide to teenage pregnancy and drug use, the girls go through emotional trauma which brings them closer together. Beyond the social stigma and popular clichés that exist in high school, the characters overcome their prejudice and learn to understand each other on a deeper profound level.
This book is everyone’s story. Feeling alienated as a teenager and coming to terms with it, to form friendships as they drift down the heaving sea of life.
The novel is not about just interesting, popular people but about the average teenager who the reader can identify with. Nityasya etches characters who may appear annoying and unpopular on the surface but have facets and dimensions which make them more interesting than the so-called ‘stable’ ones. In the final analysis You’re Not Alone is about how high school is so hard to go through yet it’s just a glimpse of life in the real world.