Novel bares wounds of political turmoil

A literary studies lecturer at Charles Darwin University has captured the ways mass political unrest can impact on personal lives in her new fictional novel.

Dr Kavita Nandan said “Home after Dark” took readers on a journey through the trauma of politics and how relationships could fall apart during these turbulent times.

The story follows a woman born in India who grew up in Fiji and then moved to Australia after the first Fijian coups of 1987.

“This story is fiction but it is partly autobiographical,” Dr Nandan said.

“I come from all these three places and I wanted to write about something that is meaningful to me and a kind of lived experience.”

She said the novel questioned the concepts of love and home, and revealed the challenges people faced when migrating from one country to another, but often in a humorous way.

“I wasn’t deliberately trying to be funny, but life’s just like that,” Dr Nandan said. “Even in dire circumstances the humorous side of life emerges.

“I hope people enjoy this story. If they are unfamiliar with India and Fiji, they hopefully will gain some insight about these places.”

“Home after Dark” will be available at the CDU Bookshop later this year. For more information about the novel, visit W: southpacificbooks.com