A multi-layered book on events of our times

From the Partition to the Bhopal gas tragedy, Siddhartha Deb spans decades to tell a story about a changing country and its people

- Aditya Mani Jha

Siddhartha Deb's latest novel, The Light at the End of the World, is a shoo-in for 2023's end-of-the-year lists. An ambitious work spanning 450-odd pages, the novel is divided into four sections, their key concerns converging into a stunning conclusion.

In 1859, a British soldier encounters a Himalayan anti-colonial rebellion where there's a lot more going on than meets the eye. In the Calcutta of 1947, a veterinarian stumbles upon an ancient secret connected to Vedic-era technology. On the eve of the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984, an assassin ponders the potential Butterfly Effect of his target's impending demise. And in Delhi of the near future, a former journalist named Bibi is on the trail of her former colleague, a man determined to prove the Indian government's involvement in a labyrinthine conspiracy involving top-secret weaponry, medical experiments, detention centres and possibly, even aliens.

There's a lot happening on the page in each of these sections, and it is to Deb's credit that he never loses the reader's attention despite the sometimes-challenging plot density. My favourite was the section set in Calcutta around the time of the Partition, where Deb is particularly good with the aura of foreboding.