The diary arrived addressed to me, bearing a message: We live forever through our stories. Tell ours.
And so began the author's journey into the life and legends of the Naga -- a forgotten people living in the far north-east of India, struggling to survive in the modern world. With sensitively poetic prose, Doherty deftly draws the reader into worlds of parallel realities. The love story, desperate and damned, destined for tragedy; forged and upheld against the wishes of family and the dictates of culture, with a backdrop of violence and reprisals amidst the brutality of communal conflict. Alongside this is the story of life in the beautiful mountain state of Nagaland where traditions, loyalties and beliefs collide with modern imperatives that, for many, lead inexorably to poverty, dislocation, drug addiction, disease and despair. Seamlessly woven throughout, Naga legends and myths connect these disparate worlds. Poignant and profound, the reader is left with a yearning nostalgia for a past where eternal truths prevailed, to be gleaned from ancient fables and sages; where a people lived in communities richly endowed with cultural and spiritual certainties, and were valued members of large family and tribal networks. Except, of course, if you choose not to follow the rules... Former foreign correspondent, The Guardian's Ben Doherty, launches onto the literary world with his enthralling debut novel.