Meera Dalal Suicide: Mum Seeks To Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence in New Book
Meera Dalal died aged 25 at her home in Leicestershire on 15 February 2016.
Now Daksha Dalal, Meera’s mother, has co-authored a memoir that seeks to reconcile her grief with the need to help others come to terms with their own battles with mental wellness and the grief of losing a child.
The book, Fall in Light: A Mother’s Story, details the domestic abuse
that plagued Meera and eventually drove her to kill herself.
It also touches upon loss and the need to combat domestic violence in all its forms.
The book will be released on March 08, 2021 to mark International Women’s Day.
Every year in England and Wales alone, one in twenty adults suffer domestic abuse, two thirds of them women. Every week, two men kill a woman they were intimate with. In the US, domestic homicides have increased by 32 per cent since 2017.
Fall in Light: A Mother’s Story is the incredibly moving account of the true story of Meera Dalal from Leicester in the United Kingdom. Meera was a young woman trapped in a relationship that was violent and abusive. After struggling with years of violence, coercive control, blackmail, extortion, and threats to her family, the 25-year-old was driven to the depths of despair and tragically took her own life.
In this honest and open memoir, her mother Daksha recounts how Meera’s happy childhood and upbringing spiralled into domestic abuse, psychological manipulation, gaslighting, and blackmail at the hands of a cruel and vindictive boyfriend who drove her to the edge of her sanity.
Mother Daksha Dalal, with domestic abuse campaigner Saurav Dutt, talks about how her family struggled to cope with the devastating loss of Meera, how they saw their hopes for her future shattered in the blink of an eye, and their battle to see justice done. She also tells of their attempts to reconcile with the tragedy of Meera’s suicide and of a future without their beautiful daughter whose life was so cruelly and inexplicably extinguished.
This memoir is a profound and bold confrontation of the urgent crisis of domestic abuse and its deep roots; it also tackles the issues of mental wellness and suicide. It will challenge everything you thought you knew about issues that continue to haunt men and women, young and old, all across the world.
A percentage of proceeds of this book will be provided for organisations assisting with mental wellness and suicide prevention.
Mrs Dalal has been raising awareness of domestic abuse since her daughter’s death through a Facebook page in her memory, and says many victims have contacted her over the last few years. Five years after her passing, she has finally summoned the strength to put her feelings down to paper and to shed a light on issues that are often only given lip service in South Asian communities.
“If just one person seeks help to fight domestic violence, to walk away from an abusive partner, or to come to terms with feelings of depression and challenges to mental wellness,” Daksha said “then I will consider this tribute to Meera a success. For every life we can save through this book, I will consider that a blessing from my daughter.”
Mrs Dalal has co-authored the book with domestic abuse campaigner and published Author Saurav Dutt who says:
“We hope to address the grief and loss families are left with after the passing
of a child in such tragic circumstances; but we also wanted to look into the reasons why a 25 year old woman was driven to the edge in such a way; it raises particular spotlights on issues that aren’t discussed enough in South Asian communities such as domestic violence, depression, suicide, gaslighting. It is my tremendous honour to work with Mrs Dalal in honouring Meera in a way that can help lives.”
For more information on the book as well as the issues that Daksha Dalal and Saurav Dutt are raising awareness about, please visit The Meera Dalal Memorial: Domestic Violence Awareness page.
