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From the author of Curses in Ivory comes an intriguing tale of greed, politics , a murder that is not quite what it seems… and witchcraft.
Set in contemporary Communist-ruled West Bengal, Black Tongue explores the story of a young servant girl and her employer whom destiny brings together in an intricate dance of love and hate. Street-smart and sassy, 16-year-old Maya has aspirations beyond her means. Then, she disappears. Amrita, Maya’s employer and a social worker, is charged with her death. The ubiquitous Party also begins to investigate the murder, a murder that turns out to be not quite what it seems.
Maya believes that her black tongue has wrecked Amrita’s beautiful world. Hate simmers in her. Amrita, in a bid to save herself, turns to ex-lover Paresh, the minister’s right-hand man. Maya’s brother, Naren, a cadre worker, sees an opportunity to make a fast buck in her disappearance. Is this part of a sinister bigger plan? Or are they shielding somebody?
Through the novel, Anjana Basu explores the contradictions that connect middle-class Kolkata and its urban slums with rural West Bengal. As the events unfold, the story looks askance at a strange, but recurrent socio-political phenomenon typical of West Bengal: pre-modern superstition existing in the interstices of an enlightened political apparatus.
The Prologue to Black Tongue was selected as one of the three best online stories in the 2005 storySouth Million Writers Award for Fiction.
ISBN - 8186939326
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Pages : 300
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