In the Shadow of Legends

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Kattuvalli, a sleepy, peace-loving small town, nestled in coastal Kerala wakes up to a gruesome murder in which all the male members of the Shastri clan have been axed to death in a mindless terrorist attack. In the Shadow of Legends is the disquieting saga of a family, in particular, the women, sucked into the vortex of a ruthless ideological warfare spanning two nations, India and the erstwhile Soviet Union. Through Swati, the novel bears witness to a blazing history from Tipu Sultan s violent reign, through the dreadful Conscience League-ridden years, to the traumatic pre-Perestroika Soviet experience. Scarred bythe brutal family legacy, Swati flees to Russia, to Misha, the breakaway son of Russian intellectuals. The narrative follows the shy flowering of love between them under repressive circumstances, wrought by the secret machinations of an indifferent and devouring system. Notwithstanding the chastening fractious burden of history and politics, ultimately, Swati s story is a story of survival, the courageous tale of the spirit that refuses to buckle under the weight of the tidal wave of conflicting ideologies. Spans the ideological warfare between India and the Soviet Union.Focuses on the women in particular who witness the aftermath of the ruthless terrorist attack killing all the male members. Juxtaposition of the beautiful and the sordid individual aspirations v/s communal. A beautiful weaving of love amidst the burden of history and politics.