In the 1970s, India is reeling under the Emergency and in Rourkela, a Nehruvian town in Orissa, a small boy, Appu, is struggling to deal with his dysfunctional family.The arrival of a surrogate mother for Appu causes his mother's madness to take a furious turn.

Years later, Appu pieces together his fragmented past,pouring over letters, diaries and family albums to slowly come in terms with his mother's schizophrenia and it's effect on those living under its shadow.

One man's memory becomes the landscape of an entire nation's socio-political history. A touching portrait of the reconciliation between love and guilt, this novel parallels the state of a nation with the fall of a nuclear family, offering a poignant exploration of self-discovery and hope.