Madhulika Syal’s Unbroken Soul: Story of love, loss & strength to begin again

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Author reflects on motherhood, grief, betrayal, healing & personal experiences that shaped her maiden book

Chandigarh, September 6

Author Madhulika Syal has turned some of the most personal chapters of her life into her first full-length book titled “Unbroken Soul – A Phoenix Rising from Shadows into Eternal Love”. Drawing from experiences of relationships, motherhood, grief, betrayal, love, loss and healing, the book explores what happens after adversity and how one finds the strength to rise again.
With a professional career spanning banking and financial services, Syal has worked in leadership, governance, risk and compliance. Writing, she says, came unexpectedly, beginning with small pieces written while travelling, during sleepless nights and in whatever spare moments life allowed.
In an interview with The North News Staff Correspondent Damini Sharma, Syal reflects on the experiences behind Unbroken Soul, motherhood, the people who shaped her, the emotional process of writing and what being “unbroken” means to her. Here are excerpts:
Q. What inspired you to write Unbroken Soul?
Madhulika Syal: The book comes from my own experiences of relationships, motherhood, grief, betrayal, love, loss and healing. But I did not want it to be simply a story about difficult experiences.
For me, the more important question was what happens after adversity. How do you get up again? How do you learn to trust, love and find yourself after losing a part of who you once were?
There were moments when I genuinely felt I would not be able to overcome certain situations. But each time, I found a way forward. That is where the idea of the phoenix came from. You may not return from difficult experiences as the same person, but you can emerge stronger, softer and wiser.
Q. You come from banking and financial services. How did writing enter your life?
Syal: Writing was never planned as a career. My professional life made me independent and disciplined while working in leadership, governance, risk and compliance taught me about responsibility.
But outside work, life gave me a completely different education. I experienced success, but also loss and uncertainty that forced me to rebuild myself.
I started writing small pieces while travelling, during sleepless nights or whenever I had some free time. Slowly, I realised those pieces were coming together to form a story I was ready to tell.
Q. How did motherhood change your journey?
Syal: Motherhood changed everything. My son became my reason to keep moving forward during some of the most difficult periods of my life.
There were times when I found strength simply because I was his mother. I did not want to give up and become something he learned from me. I hope that when he is old enough to understand the story behind Unbroken Soul, he will see someone who faced difficult experiences without losing faith in life.
Q. Was writing about your own experiences emotionally difficult?
Syal: Absolutely! Sometimes remembering an experience was harder than putting it into words.
There were days when I wrote several pages and days when I could manage only a few paragraphs before putting the manuscript aside for weeks.
I wanted the book to have lighter and humorous memories too. Even during difficult periods, there are moments that make you laugh and smile.
Q. The book took almost five years to complete. Why did the process take so long?
Syal: I wrote whenever life allowed me to. At airports, during flights, in hotel rooms, while travelling and late at night.
Looking back, I am glad I did not rush it. The woman who started writing the book and the woman who finished it were not quite the same person.
The book grew with me.
Q. Your family features strongly in your story. Who were your biggest influences?
Syal: My family has been my biggest inspiration. My mother was a strong businesswoman and taught me that ambition and ethics can go together without compromising your values.
My grandfather taught me integrity, while my grandmother showed me a quieter form of strength through love, protection and holding the family together.
My uncle, whom I called my “Papu Papa”, was visionary and patient. He taught me to look beyond what was immediately in front of me. My Mami and Bhabi also reminded me never to underestimate the woman who quietly holds a home and family together.
Q. What does being “unbroken” mean to you?
Syal: Being unbroken does not mean you were never hurt or broken down. I have had moments when I cried, questioned myself and did not know what would come next.
For me, being unbroken means gathering the pieces and continuing.
That is perhaps the strongest lesson my journey has taught me. Where you are today does not necessarily have to be where your story ends.
Q. You have received recognition for your professional work and writing. How do you look at it?
Syal: Awards are naturally pleasing, but they are also emotional because they remind you of the periods when there was no applause.
People fight many battles quietly. Sometimes the achievement is simply finding the strength to keep going when nobody sees what it takes.
I am grateful for the recognition, but the unseen moments ultimately shape the person who later receives it.
Q. You have also been recognised by Forbes. What did that moment mean to you?
Syal: It was special and slightly surreal. My first thought was not about prestige. I thought about how the book had started.
I had been writing privately while travelling, often sitting alone with my phone or laptop and trying to make sense of my own life. To see that journey receive wider recognition was deeply meaningful.
But I do not want the success of Unbroken Soul to be measured only through awards or media features. For me, the greater achievement would be for a reader, particularly a woman going through a difficult phase, to find a part of herself in the book and feel that she too can get through what she is facing.
Q. What would you tell aspiring authors who are waiting to start writing?
Syal: Stop worrying about whether you sound like an author. Focus on sounding like yourself.
Imperfect writing can be edited, but a blank page cannot. Do not wait for the perfect moment. Start writing.
Q. Do you see another book in the future?
Syal: I would like to write another book, but I do not want to write a second book simply for the sake of producing one.
I want the next story to come naturally. I would like to explore themes around women, relationships, motherhood, resilience and identity, but I want the story to find me rather than force it.
Q. What do you hope readers take away from Unbroken Soul?
Syal: I hope women and young people who read it feel encouraged to believe that their current circumstances do not have to define their entire story. If someone going through a difficult phase reads the book and feels less alone or finds the courage to continue, that would mean more to me than any award.
Because ultimately, Unbroken Soul is not about never falling apart. It is about finding the courage to gather yourself and rise again.