First published 2016
Dinesh has been living on the edges of a makeshift camp near an improvised clinic for several days. An aging man approaches him with an unexpected proposal: marry his daughter. The father believes a married woman stands a better chance of surviving if government forces or rebels conduct raids. Within hours, Dinesh finds himself wed to Ganga, a young woman he has never met. The novel follows their first evening and night together as strangers bound by desperate circumstances. Months of conflict, horror, and loss have broken both of them. Through Ganga's presence, Dinesh rediscovers basic human responses he had suppressed during his solitary wandering. He begins to speak, wash, feel, and cry again. Ganga awakens to her own body and desires. Yet the surrounding brutality remains indifferent to their emerging connection. Their unexpected return to life and feeling will not last long. Despite the constant threat of death, this is also simply a boy facing a girl for the first time, even as war distorts every need and gesture around them.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, strangers-to-lovers
Setting: Improvised Clinic, Makeshift Camp
Period: Months of Conflict, War
236 pages · Paperback · Gallimard
Content warnings: violence, war