Nilanjana Roy’s latest novel, Black River (released recently by Context), begins with the grisly death of eight-year-old Munia, who is found hanging from a tree in the (fictional) Teetarpur, a village on the Delhi-Haryana border. After a gripping first act, however, the novel presses pause on the actual murder investigation. Instead, across Black River’s midsection, readers are shown the lives of Chand, his Bengali friend Khalid and his wife, the formidable Rabia, all of whom have left their respective villages to come to Delhi’s doorstep.
During an interview, Roy spoke about the novel’s structure. “You’re pausing what’s seemingly a murder mystery in chapter four and you’re saying, ‘Please trust me while you get to know these people, because it’s really important’.” This is a bold gambit, but it works wonders…
