Loss, Longing, and Motherhood: Gothic Horror in Contemporary India
Date: 18 April 2025
Time: 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Venue: KCC Library
Join us for a conversation between author Himanjali Sankar and Priyadarshinee Guha, Associate Vice President, KCC, under Fridays @ KCC Library, launching Sankar’s latest novel The Burnings – a gothic horror published by Pan Macmillan India in January 2025. Intended as a perfect read for fans of Stephen King, Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe, the book explores the story of a haunted mansion by expertly stitching together three women’s points of view – delving into themes such as love, loss, and motherhood.
Copies of the book will be available for signing and sale.
ABOUT THE BOOK
'They will succumb – to the fire or to the madness within.'
As inexplicable fires rage across the country, Shalini receives a frantic call from her first love, Akshar – a man she hasn’t seen in years. She rushes to his side, only to find him a shadow of his former self: broken, tormented by regret and wasting away in the decaying grandeur of his ancestral mansion in the hills.
Soon after Shalini steps through its doors, she senses that something isn’t right. The lonely mansion’s older residents linger in eerie ways, harbouring secrets as oppressive as the smoke in the air, and the few living souls who cross her path – Akshar’s beautiful but peculiar childhood sweetheart, the occasional visitors and even some of the locals – are steeped in menace. A locked room beckons Shalini, while something haunts the corridors at night, as if listening to her every move.
Shalini must confront the mansion’s malevolent legacy and her own dark past – but doing so could come at an unthinkable price. Will she break free, or become another ghost in this house of horrors?
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Himanjali Sankar is an editor and writer. She completed her Masters and MPhil in English Literature from JNU, New Delhi. Her children’s and YA books include The Stupendous Timetelling Superdog and Talking of Muskaan, which were shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award. Mrs C Remembers, her first novel for adults, won her the FICCI Publishing Award for Upcoming Author of the Year in 2018. Her first picture book for children, Forgetful Dida, was published in April 2024. Himanjali likes birthday cakes with candles, the rhythm of waves breaking on a shore, the first glimpse of mountain peaks on long car journeys, with a dog settled on her lap and a child’s sleepy head on her shoulder.
Priyadarshinee Guha is an alumna of Loreto House, La Martiniere for Girls, and Presidency College, Calcutta, has a master's in modern history , and is a gold medallist from Calcutta University. Passionate about teaching, she chose to make this her life force. Guha has been teaching History and English for the last 28 years in reputed schools of Calcutta, namely Modern High School for Girls and The Heritage School. As a teacher of History, she has conducted several workshops for students and for training of teachers in using novel and creative approaches in the classroom. A trained Rabindra Sangeet singer, she has worked for several years in a reputed Bengali theatre group in Calcutta. Theatre was carried into the classroom which led her to mount several award-winning productions under her direction. She has also directed water ballets set to Tagorean themes. She has been the master of ceremonies for events and a regular at the Kolkata Literary Meet since its inception. Presently the Associate Vice President at the Kolkata Centre for Creativity she is carrying on her mission of marrying the arts with education.
