Myung and Laleh are keepers of the whale of babel. They roam within its cosmic chambers, speak folktales of themselves, and pray to an enigmatic figure they know only as 'Great Wisa'. To Laleh, this is everything. For Myung, it is not enough. When Myung flees the whale, she stumbles into a new universe where shapeshifting islands and ancient maps hold sway. There, she sets off on an adventure that is both tragic and transformative, for her and Laleh. For at the heart of her quest lies a mystery that has confounded scholars for the truth about the mad sisters of Esi. Fables, dreams and myths come together in this masterful work of fantasy by acclaimed author Tashan Mehta, sweeping across three landscapes, and featuring a museum of collective memory and a festival of madness. At its core, it In the devastating chaos of this world, where all is in flux and the truth ever-changing, what will you choose to hold on to?
Author
Tashan Mehta is a novelist whose interest lies in form and the fantastical. Her debut novel, THE LIAR'S WEAVE, was shortlisted for the Prabha Khaitan Woman's Voice Award. She was part of the 2015 and 2021 Sangam House International Writers' Residency (India) and was British Council Writer-in-Residence at Anglia Ruskin University (United Kingdom) in 2018. In 2019, she participated in FIELDWORK 0.2, a multidisciplinary residency that explored alternative infrastructures for the future. She was commissioned by the Barbican (London) to create an artefact that captures the essence of the experience; ON UNKNOWN THINGS was printed for limited release in 2021. Her short story ‘Rulebook for Creating a Universe’ has been published in MAGICAL WOMEN and PodCastle, and was shortlisted for the 2020 Toto Funds the Arts Award. Her work features in the GOLLANCZ BOOK OF SOUTH ASIAN SCIENCE FICTION: VOL II, and she is working on her next novel.
