Radhika Maira Tabrez’s debut novel, ‘In the Light of Darkness’ sucks you in slowly, inexorably and you find yourself floating in a sea of emotions as old as the world itself. The way Radikha has delved into the morass of complex sentiments that form the bond between a mother and child will surely tug at your heart. The author has selected a primeval yet universally vital relationship as the foundation of her story and carved an edifice that stuns you as much with its grandeur as with its minute detailing. I am sure it was not easy, but Radhika has done it. And done it so expertly that like me, I believe all the readers who read through this amazing tale will hear a resonance as their own umbilical cords vibrate in the yearnings of Susan and Matthew.
That darkness can be a gift is an understanding that emerges from a great deal of soul searching. Radhika has so effectively and evocatively brought forth this credo that at the end you are left with a deep sense of conviction of this reality and that was my take away from her story.
Set in mythical Bydore, Radhika has crafted a set of protagonists who are totally real. They live in your mind long after you have turned the last page. She is skilled at giving each character, however short a role they may play in the story, a persona all of their own.
Her earlier writings have profiled Radhika’s consummate control over language but the word play in this novel confirms beyond doubt what a dexterous and proficient writer she is. Despite ‘In the Light of Darkness’ being a debut novel, Radhika wields her brush like a pro as she paints scenes of waves lashing the shore or the bonhomie among friends at the bookshop or calm moonlit beaches or the iron gate creaking or the highly charged communion between a son and his deceased mother. The author is adept at subtleties delineated by the tender thread of romance she weaves through the coming of age of the main protagonists. The way Radhika mixes and merges many ideologies such as domestic violence, negligence of the girl child, different aspects of parent-child relations, deep friendships, governmental apathy towards ethnic tribes with the powerfully portrayed main story proves her exquisite story telling skills.
For me ‘In the Light of Darkness’ was one of those books that left me wanting more. It was with a sigh that I turned that last page and wished that I could have flown off to Bydore for a holiday and actually met its denizens; so real the island had become by then. I would strongly recommend you read this book and become a Bydorian too, at least, in spirit.
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