A House Called Askival

This is a compelling and strong narrative, but then I am biased as I was also in boarding at the same school (name changed). I graduated a few years earlier but the details are very similar. The crazy fundamentalism is not an exaggeration. And I also have struggled with my relationship to my missionary parents because of it. Her anger speaks to me. It is interesting how the author weaves in the back story of the father's childhood and how that has an impact on him as a parent.

I bought the Kindle version of A House Called Askival when it first came out, and liked it so much that I bought a hard copy to read again and lend to friends. I found this book a compelling, beautifully written novel that describes both my own childhood growing up in India and that of the generation before me. The emotions and the experiences are both real and heartbreaking. I laughed and wept as read it.

It is rare to discover in one's familiar childhood setting the threads that when worked by a word weaver makes a significant contribution to literature of the interface between ex-pats and those who call India their country. What this superb novel reveals over several generations is that many of those from the UK or the US come to the realization that India becomes their emotional home too. Merryn Glover's accurate and evocative description of the interest in collecting beetles was so poignant that I had to put the book down and take a walk. It was my childhood obsession being accurately described and placed into a good novel. Another surprise was finding that an expat community's book of recipes appearing like a Jinn, a magical living and evocative character in a book that links generations together. That is rare. Then there is the plot with all its twists and surprises. You will just have to read the book!! Looking for more from this author.

“India… conquered the foreigner first through the senses, and only later claimed the mind”

I took this book with me on a recent trip to India and was enthralled by the story unravelling on the pages in the novel. I then looked up at my surroundings to find that the experiences on the paper continued and echoed around me in real life. That of course is what TripFiction is largely about. As I sat with the langur monkeys reading the book (me, not them), the author also describes these fierce little black faced creatures in the text, which made reading the book such a multi dimensional experience: “There was a rushing in the trees that made her jump. A troop of langur monkeys were springing through the branches, their long limbs a silvery grey, faces black. One turned his eyes on her, bright and fierce, and she caught a hiss through teeth before he swung away.:

Ruth arrives in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand to look after her ailing father, James. Theirs has not been an easy relationship and it is many years since they last met. The story looks back over three generations, right back to the grandparents originally missionaries from the States. The family has built up substantial roots in this part of India, and invested emotional energy over many years caring for the well-being of the locals. Ruth’s experience has been that the love and care going out to the people around them has not really been reflected in family dynamics, and she for one has felt emotionally neglected. It is therefore with foreboding that she arrives in this all too familiar hill station, her feelings are very mixed. She settles into an existence in Mussoorie, reliving her past in the context of the present, and with an underlying sadness as she recognises: “I don’t think I love life. I just live it“. And as the narrative progresses we begin to understand why.

Iqbal is caring fro her father, -but who he is remains a mystery that gradually unfolds as the family history becomes clearer. In her mind much time is spent recalling her school years – boarding school with its sense of abandonment. And her first love Manveer, a Sikh who also lived in the school, accepts her for herself only at great cost to himself.

The stories intertwine well and history is blended into the narrative to add to the overall understanding – what Partition meant for millions of people and how the conflict between religions flared up and caused so much strife between peoples. And it is a story about family, about rejection and loyalty and so much more.

Over on our blog we talk to Merryn about writing and India: http://www.tripfiction.com/novel-set-in-mussoorie-india/