They drowned all the refugees

Neither Abdul nor Pedro can return, Abdul is dead, and Pedro's whereabouts are now a mystery. Until Maria, the narrator's childhood nanny and Pedro's mother, resorts to magic and sorcery to bring her son back. But the person she finds is not her lively son, but someone who has become a mere shadow of himself. What happened to Pedro during his journey to a distant land, or on his return trip?As the narrator tries to answer this question, he realizes that every revelation carries within it violence and horror. Drown All the Refugees, a work of gothic horror, beautifully illustrated by Vikram Nayak, is Kher at his most brilliant - confident and angry. Khair rejects the pity of the reader, the sadness of the spectator, and asks instead for something more fundamental, perhaps the reordering of a world in chaos.Tabesh Kher says: “ We already have some novels that explore the struggle to find refuge – the perilous journey, and the challenges of a new life elsewhere. But I was equally interested in what is left behind, and whether something comes back. This novel is about the trauma of not just what is asked for, but also what is abandoned, not just those who leave, but also those who stay – and there is no doubt that a story filled with so much repressed violence can only be told in the style of Gothic literature.”