Synopsis:

Myung and Laleh are keepers of the whale of babel. They roam within its cosmic chambers, speak folktales of themselves, and pray to an enigmatic figure they know only as ‘Great Wisa’. To Laleh, this is everything. For Myung, it is not enough.

When Myung flees the whale, she stumbles into a new universe where shapeshifting islands and ancient maps hold sway. There, she sets off on an adventure that is both tragic and transformative, for her and Laleh. For at the heart of her quest lies a mystery that has confounded scholars for generations: the truth about the mad sisters of Esi. 

Fables, dreams and myths come together in this masterful work of fantasy by acclaimed author Tashan Mehta, sweeping across three landscapes, and featuring a museum of collective memory and a festival of madness. At its core, it asks: In the devastating chaos of this world, where all is in flux and the truth ever-changing, what will you choose to hold on to?

Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: HarperCollins India/DAW
Pub Date: 20 September 2023

Storygraph

This book is currently unavailable for purchase outside India and the US.
Secondhand copies can be found online.

Review:

It’s very hard for me to accurately describe how I feel about this book because I loved it so much for so many reasons, many of which I don’t know how to explain.

Mad Sisters of Esi is, as you might expect, about sisters. It is also about time, creation, creativity, and love. Laleh and Myung are the Keepers of the Whale of Babel. They roam its infinite chambers and tell each other stories of themselves and of their creator, Great Wisa. Myung dreams of more. More people, more stories, and so she leaves the whale…

From page one, I knew this would be something special. Mehta’s writing is beautiful, like that of a fairytale. It’s descriptive and lush without being flowery. We have varying narratives here: first and second person, academic extracts and diary entries, snippets of stories from strangers… It is hard to explain it in any sort of definitive way because it’s not structured, but it shouldn’t be. The words just flow effortlessly like water.

A large part of this book is creation. The Whale is filled with endless worlds continuously being created. A sister yearns to create a world of her own. The island of Esi itself is a miraculous land that cannot be pinned down in any one reality, so “you can’t draw Esi, even if it were real—the island won’t stay still.” While the building of these worlds makes up the heart of the story, the actual worldbuilding of the novel is like a mirage, never substantial enough for you to truly understand, but you don’t need to. You feel the world, rather than see it.

As the title suggests, another central theme of the book is madness. Is it such a terrible thing to be mad? The madness here is rooted in love, love for one’s sister. For how can it be wrong to love someone so much that you’d do anything for them?
“In our third chamber, a new word appeared to me. SISTER, two syllables. Meaning to belong to and love forever.”
This bond between sisters that wove through every page was the thread that tethered me tightly to this book. It showed sisterly love in all its forms: adoration, jealousy, protectiveness, need, pride… Never have I read anything before that truly plumbed the depths of such a relationship.

A book filled with madness, love, grief and stories, and one I didn’t want to be over even after I turned the last page. “Must it end?” asks the djinn. “Can it not remain?” “It must,” says Wisa firmly, “For I am not made for one story, and neither are you.”