Reuben
Lachmansingh

Regarded and celebrated as one of India's greatest freedom fighters, Shankar Singh's brief alliance with the Axis powers during World War II might appear controversial — but his commitment to India's freedom struggle, and his role in forming the Army of Indian Revolutionaries (AIR), compelled the British to capitulate, hastening India's path to independence.

A taut, character-driven thriller about memory, consequence, and ethical compromise. Praised for crisp pacing and razor-sharp prose.

Discover how sugar — white gold — changed the world, and how coolie indentureship replaced slavery through trickery and kidnapping. Against the backdrop of plantation life, the author lures the reader into a world of intrigue, adventure, and romance.

Caught up in this grand scheme, thugs snatch Raja away from his pretty wife and herd him onto a sailing ship in Calcutta bound for the distant colony of British Guiana. The year is 1869. When the British fail to return Raja to his homeland, he makes good as a free man in the new colony. In his old age, he returns to his native home — will he relight the spark of a once-beautiful romance?

Road to Belwasa is in many respects a sequel to the author's first book, A Dip at the Sangam, which was shortlisted for the First Book Guyana Prize for Literature.

Growing up in Sand Reef, Reuben had heard tales about his great-grandfather — about how he'd been kidnapped to toil like a slave in British Guiana. He longed to travel to that little village called Belwasa, deep in Bihar, to find out more about that part of his ancestral history. To get there, the reader is lured to find out more about Reuben's life and the sacrifices he had to make before he made that journey to Belwasa.