August 17: A Novel of Power and Rebellion | From the JCB Prize-Winning Author of Moustache | Translated Indian Fiction
What if, on the 17th of August 1947, Kerala's kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor had simply refused to become part of India? That single act of defiance sets S. Hareesh's extraordinary novel spinning into motion. What follows is a republic born in chaos, shaped by coups, betrayals, and uprisings, all filtered through the watchful eyes of a shadowy informant known only as the CID. It's an unsettling vantage point, and a brilliantly chosen one. Hareesh, winner of the JCB Prize for his novel 'Moustache', uses this invented observer to reconstruct Kerala's history as something stranger and more truthful than any straightforward account could manage. Fact and invention bleed into each other here. Faith and politics twist around one another until you can't quite separate them. Sanity and madness? Forget the border entirely. The book operates as both speculative history and quietly subversive metafiction, asking pointed questions about how nations construct themselves through the stories they decide to keep telling. It's darkly comic in places, genuinely unsettling in others, and consistently sharp. Jayasree Kalathil's translation deserves particular recognition. The prose retains its bite and its strangeness, carrying the novel's tonal shifts with real confidence. This is a book of considerable scope, one that rewards patient, curious readers who enjoy fiction that refuses to sit still.
- Author: S. Hareesh
- Publisher: Harper Perennial India
- Genre: Science Fiction
- ISBN: 978-9369891559
- Pages: 432 pages