3 Review(s)

A thick mist envelops an isolated house and a neighbouring cottage atop a hill. Raseel, looking out from the verandah of the house, watches the mist as it covers first the plants,then the trees and finally the house. Suddenly it parts, and three men come into view, furtive, quick. Then they're gone. Minutes later, Raseel hears the sound of shots. Then silence. Almost from the very first line,the reader is pulled into Bijoya Sawian's tense and poetic story ofthe mystery death of a dhkar, an outsider, in the beautiful hill town of Shillong in Meghalaya in north eastern India. Why was he killed? Who are thekillers? Are they known to the house help in Raseel's part ofthe house? As she begins to unravel this mystery, Raseel finds herself caught in a tale of intrigue and violence that mirrors the world of insurgency around her, and shows how violence has tainted the very fabric of everyday life in a place thatwas once seen as the abode of beauty and calm, Meghalaya, the home of the clouds. About the Author Bijoya Sawian is a translator and writer who lives in Shillong and Dehradun. She is the author of several books including The Teachings of Elders and Khasi Myths, Legends and Folktales. Shadow Men is her first novel.