The Firebird

Saikat Majumdar

Hachette India

240 pages, Rs. 499

For ten-year-old Ori, his mother’s life as a theatre actor is both fascinating and fearful. Approaching adolescence in an unstable home, he is haunted by her nightly stage appearances, and the suspicion and resentment her profession evokes in the people around her. Consumed by a hatred of the stage, Ori is irrevocably drawn into actions that can only have catastrophic consequences. Majumdar’s second novel is a visceral exploration of a young boy stumbling into adulthood far ahead of his time.