Fables, dreams and myths come together in this masterful work of fantasy by acclaimed author Tashan Mehta

sohela.singh@harpercollins.co.in | 13 September 2023

HarperCollins India is delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of

MAD SISTERS OF ESI

by  Tashan Mehta

‘Tashan Mehta is one of the most gifted, original writers you’ll ever read. Mad Sisters of Esi shows us, again, her skill with both the cosmic and the deeply personal. All of it is magical.’ —Samit Basu, author of Chosen Spirits and The City Inside

‘Sometimes a fantasy comes along so startling and so keenly felt that it changes the way you look at the world for the better.’ – Helen Marshall, winner of the World Fantasy Award

‘Think of Elena Ferrante, but set in a magical, fantasy world.’ – Gautam Bhatia, author of The Wall

‘A tale of tales wrapped in iridescent spacetime, an infinitely nested creation myth.’ – Indrapramit Das, author of The Devourers

About the Book

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 generations: 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 asks: 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?

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Talking about the book, Tashan Mehta says, ‘As all good novel ideas do, Mad Sisters of Esi arrived in my head when I was meant to be working on another book, and then spent the next four years teaching me how to write it. It’s a joyful, strange, madcap novel that follows two sisters from the belly of a cosmic whale into a universe that hides their secrets. Ostensibly, it is about family, identity and belonging, but at its core, it is simply this: a love letter to our wildness.

I love this book dearly, as you would a best friend, and I cannot wait for the world to meet these sisters. Publishing with HarperCollins has been a dream, and I am delighted and grateful to have such incredible people champion this story.’

Poulomi Chatterjee, Publisher at HarperCollins India, adds ‘When I first read Mad Sisters of Esi as a manuscript what struck me was how beautifully Tashan had infused every bit of the narrative with the joy of wonder, of curiosity and discovery, and made real an ever-expanding universe-within-universe inhabited by delightful people and creatures alike, bound by love of different kinds. This is a novel that will draw its readers back to it again and again, and delight them more with each reading as it reveals its innumerable layers, nuances and glimmering secrets. Tashan is incredibly talented, and a voice to be watched out for. The power of her words and her world-building is immersive and immense. We at HarperCollins are incredibly happy to be publishing this gem of a book.’

About the Author

Tashan Mehta is the author of The Liar’s Weave, which was shortlisted for the inaugural Prabha Khaitan Woman’s Voice Award. Her short stories have featured in Magical Women, the Gollancz Book of South Asian Science Fiction Volume 2 and PodCastle. She was fellow at the 2015 and 2021 Sangam House International Writers’ Residency, India, and writer-in-residence at Anglia Ruskin University, UK. You can find her at tashanmehta.com

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For review copies, interviews, excerpts or more information, please write to: sohela.singh@harpercollins.co.in

Paperback | 424 pp | Rs 599

Available wherever books are sold | Releasing 29 September 2023