Sylvia

LoveReading Says

Evoking the culture and landscape of rural South India, Maithreyi Karnoor’s Sylvia is hauntingly lyrical and infused with thought-provoking psychological insights, especially on the subject of human connections. It also reveals deep connections to places, with the strange majesty of the baobab — the tree of life that “appears as if it has been planted in the intangible sky” — threaded throughout.

In Part One we meet Bhaubaab (real name Cajetan Pereira) as he returns to his ancestral land, set on finding a house near to rare baobab trees, which he does. He strikes up a friendship with the somewhat foolhardy Lakshmi, a younger neighbour who looks up to him. As Bhaubaab reignites a spark of life in Lakshmi after his dreams of becoming an actor are crushed, Sylvia enters Bhaubaab’s life, a woman who’s “quit her job to write about places and people” and wants to write a feature on baobab trees. On discovering she might be Bhaubaab’s niece, daughter of his brother Anton, she visits him. They strike up a bond and she begins working on his memoir. Then she leaves, sudden and unexplained.

Part Two presents a series of compelling short stories, essentially character vignettes offering intense insights into varied lives. Sylvia re-emerges in this landscape, as does the baobab. Though short, Sylvia is a philosophical book that defies narrative convention, compelling you to take your time over it, to savour the flow of words, and the writer’s exploration of the complex way people leave their mark on our lives.

Joanne Owen

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