User:Sepia Leaves

In the 1970's, India is reeling under Emergency and in Rourkela, a Nehruvian dream town in Orissa, a small boy is struggling to deal with his dysfunctional family. The arrival of a surrogate mother for Appu causes his mother's madness to take a furious turn. What follows is a series of events where Appu is bounced from Rourkela to Punjab to Dehradun and back. Years later, Appu's father dies on a summer evening in Bangalore. In the course of that night, Appu pores over letters, diaries and family albums to slowly come to terms with his mother's schizophrenia and its effect on those living under its shadow. It is a novel about one man's quest to find himself by understanding where he comes from.

The book seeks reconciliation between love and guilt. The answers are not easy, and Sepia Leaves explores whether storytelling itself can be an act of resolving the past and hoping about the future.

Amandeep Sandhu
The author of Sepia Leaves, Amandeep Sandhu, was born in Rourkela. He was born in Rourkela, orissa and has lived in Uttrakhand, Punjab, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. He earned a Masters in English Literature from the University of Hyderabad and is currently based in the National Capital Region, Delhi, India.

He has worked as a farm-hand, a woolen-garment seller, a shop assistant, a tuition master, a teacher, a journalist with The Economic Times, a technical writer with Novell Inc, Oracle Corporation, and now Cadence Design Systems.

Literature, for him, is an understanding of the essential human struggle to become complete. He writes to understand himself and his world, and to sleep peacefully. He is currently finishing his second book Roll of Honour.

Publication:

Sepia Leaves, hardcover, was published in December 2007 by Tara Press, New Delhi. Tara Press is a division of India Research Press.

Sepia Leaves, paperback, was published in July 2008 by Rupa & Co, Delhi.