Black River by Nilanjana Roy
The Blurb:
IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO KILL A CHILD…
The Indian village of Teetarpur is a quiet, unremarkable place, until one of its children is found dead, hanging from the branch of a Jamun tree.
In the largely Hindu community, suspicion quickly falls on an itinerant Muslim man, Mansoor.
It’s up to local policeman Sub-Inspector Ombir Singh to uncover the truth.
With only one assistant officer, and a single working revolver between them, can he bring justice to a grieving father and an angry village―or will the people of Teetarpur demand vengeance instead?
My review:
Black River is a compelling blend of crime noir, psychological thriller, state of the nation novel and literary fiction. Roy’s writing is tender, immersive, lyrical and elegant, yet also acutely observational, raw and honest.
The novel perfectly captures the textured layers of this complex nation, a country which has always fascinated me and which I have visited numerous times, yet can't even pretend to understand or truly know.
Roy explores love, fatherhood, enduring friendships and kindness, but the colour, beauty and light of the sub-continent is darkened by everyday brutality, religious intolerance, divided communities, the corruption of power and violence against women; those “layers of insecurities, prejudices and fears that have come to define India” (Tribune India)
Black River is not a page-turner in the conventional sense, the novel is slower-paced and perhaps more contemplative than a traditional crime novel, but is all the better for that. The characters are vividly drawn and linger in the mind, and there is hope as well as despair. Despite the fact that Munia loses her life in the opening pages of the book, she is so skilfully drawn in those few paragraphs that we already feel we know her well. Her death lies at the heart of the story, yet the other characters’ lives are equally compelling, and the threads of the story are pulled together by the ever-present Yamuna River. The river and the city are characters in themselves, and this immersive sense of place is one of the novel’s great strengths.
A tightly written and engrossing novel which tugs at the heart.
(Thanks to Pushkin Press for the review copy of Black River and for inviting me to take part in the Blog Tour. Black River is out NOW!)
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