Gangtok in the remote state of Sikkim in northern India is both the setting for this novel and the home town of its author. Parajuly’s familiarity with this place seems to have bred a degree of contempt – for its corruption and febrile culture – and his hostility extends to his characters as well, making for a rather caustic narrative. Talking to the Indian newspaper DNA in 2014, he said: “I decided to take all the taboo issues in the Indian subcontinent such as homosexuality, inter-caste marriages and eunuchs, and have a blast with them.” Four adult siblings, brought up in Gangtok by their grandmother, return from other continents to celebrate her 84th birthday. Chitralekha, the grandmother, is cunning, despotic and a bearer of long-term grudges. Her clashes with each of her grandchildren are fierce and damaging, hingeing on the social missteps that each has made and which she cannot accept. Her relationship with her servant, Prasanti, a eunuch, while still fiery, seems more affectionate. Parajuly’s insights into this culture feel raw and untrammelled, as is the language in which he writes.
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