Strangers on the Shore

Author: Randhir Khare
Publisher: Niyogi Books
(Pp 344, ISBN 978-9383098613, Rs 395)

Indians are obsessed with life-long family ties and it is a common tendency to blame parents for any failures in life. Strangers on the Shore focuses on the same. Arnie is a son of a possessive mother whose thought keep hounding him even after her death. Infact he keeps the memory of her alive, fighting her, loving her, afraid of her. His half-sister Chrissie, tries to control and fuss over her son Luke who eventually leaves her in order to discover himself. Then there is Melissa whose life-journey is shaped by the influence of a dominant, perverted grandfather. Another character Sabby isn’t able to come to terms with his son’s preferences.

All these characters paths cross and recross, dramatically negotiating each other and the myriad lives who touch them, weaving an intensely emotional and psychological story about people who find themselves and lose themselves in an effort to discover who they really are. Strangers on the Shore reveals the dark underbelly of so-called sacrosanct relationships and filial ties and draws the reader into exploring realities that are most often brushed under the carpet. Readers might even get a glimpse of their lives in this fictional novel. An interesting book to understand the realities of relationships!

–Varsha Verma