When twelve-year-old Mariaamma’s father dies, she is forced to leave her Kerala village and marry a forty-year-old man. She knows nothing of the hereditary “condition” that runs through his family, but she becomes aware that her husband goes out of his way to avoid water. After her son’s birth, she notices he tries to avoid a bath and dislikes water poured over his head. What is this mysterious condition? It takes three generations before this comes to light, while family members lose their lives all too soon.

Set in Kerala from the early 1900s through three generations, this family saga is an in depth experience of life in Kerala as well as the effects of British colonialism centred around Madras with a through line of medical conditions.

• 5 out of 5 Indian settings