![]() ![]() Shalini is placed in an internment camp - suddenly forced into the life of someone completely at the mercy of an intrusive, autocratic State. They have a daughter, who is taken away for being ‘mixed’. A privileged Hindu girl, she marries an equally well-off Muslim boy even as the world around her marches towards segregation. It does rely on all the elements of stories like Animal Farm - the protagonist Shalini lives in an India that’s sorely divided, with walled ‘communities’ distinguished by religion. To call Akbar’s novel a dystopian fantasy is not quite correct. No light at the end of the tunnel? The canal at the Tunnel de Roue, near Marseilles, pictured in 1930.(Getty Images) ![]() Anchored by the heart-wrenching story of a woman’s desperate search for her daughter, Leila offers readers a picture of their potential future. Leila, Prayaag Akbar’s debut novel, straddles the line between surrealism and a clear vision of the direction in which our society appears to be heading. ![]()
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