This is a dark and disturbing tale. Raj Kamal Jha's first novel explores love and twisted eroticism overshadowed by sinister domestic violence.

Set in a house on a narrow Calcutta Street, the story starts with a baby, one day old and still wrapped in its hospital towel, lying on a blue bedspread. In the next room sits a man, all alone, writing.

The story enfolds in 'flashbacks' between past and present. The man unravels the dark secrets of his life as they twist & intertwine with the baby's day old life. I lurched from pity, to disgust and back to pity as piece-by-piece the jigsaw fell into place.

The blue bedspread, also the name chosen for the title to this book, binds together two children. It is their protector, muffling their fears on dark nights in an oppressed and violent household. It is their haven, an escape from tortured daily lives and it fills their youth with hope and joy and fun.

If it sounds too sombre - fear not. Raj Kamal Jha is a master storyteller. Frugal with his words and lavish with his allusions he narrates the tale dramatically with a deft touch of suspense and horror. One can palpably feel impending dread and taste the fear, almost as one would in a film.

Without giving away the plot, there were often times when I simply had to close the book - Jha's words becoming too painful in places. For me, through the entire narrative is a hidden anxiety for the day old child. The blue bedspread is a sordid yet poignant story extremely well told.

The subject matter is narrated with a raw and bitter edge that lends a believable reality to the plot. I could not possible read this book again, but everyone should read it at least once. Just once.

About the Author

Raj Kamal Jha was born in 1966 and spent his first eighteen years in Calcutta. He returned to the city in 1992 as an editor with the 'Statesman'. He now lives in New Delhi, where is an editor on the 'Indian Express'.

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