The Witch in the Peepul Tree

Description

It is Makar Sankranti,1950, when sixteen-year-old Sanaz’s body is discovered in her father Dada Bhai’s house in Bohrawadi, Udaipur.

A few of those in and around the house that day are the cruel zamindar Rao sahib of Singhgarh, the devout degenerate Hariharan, the young Bhil Nathu, visiting from a remote tribal village to inform Dada Bhai of a leopard kill, the attractive night soil worker Parijat, and the acerbic widow Sugra, who rolls a rosary and wishes for the jeevti dakkan-the living witch in the peepul tree-to be her secret ally.

As the shadows grow long, it becomes clear that something sinister walks the halls of this grand old house. What unfolds is a genre-bending tale of suspense, intrigue and something so much darker.

Arefa Tehsin is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, both for children and adults, and contributes columns and features (to various national dailies and magazines like The Indian Express, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, Outlook, The Wire and The Times of India. Her books have been taken up as textbooks and supplementary readers in schools in India and Sri Lanka.