In the sequel to her critically acclaimed, bestselling novel, The Wildings, Nilanjana Roy takes us back to the Delhi neighbourhood of Nizamuddin, and its unforgettable cats—Mara, Southpaw, Katar, Hulo and Beraal. As they recover slowly from their terrible battle with the feral cats, they find their beloved locality changing around them. Winter brings an army of predators—humans, vicious dogs, snakes, bandicoots—along with the cold and a scarcity of food… Unless Mara can help them find a safe haven, their small band will be wiped out forever.
With the assistance of a motley group of friends—Doginder, a friendly stray; Hatch, a cheel who is afraid of the sky; Thomas Mor, an affable peacock; Jethro Tail, the mouse who roared; and the legendary Senders of Delhi—Mara and her band set out on an epic journey to find a place where they can live free from danger. With all the brilliance and originality of its predecessor, The Hundred Names of Darkness brings the story of Mara and the enormously appealing cats of Nizamuddin to a breath-taking conclusion.
Nilanjana Roy spent most of her adult life writing about humans before realizing that animals were much more fun; The Wildings is her first novel. Her column on books and reading for the Business Standard has run for over fifteen years; she also writes for the International Herald Tribune on gender. Her fiction and journalism have appeared in several journals and anthologies, including The Caravan, Civil Lines 6, Guernica, The New York Times’ India blog, Outlook and Biblio. Some of her stories for children have been published in Scholastic’s Spooky Stories, Science Fiction Stories and Be Witched. She is the editor of A Matter of Taste: The Penguin Book of Indian Food Writing. At one time, she used to blog as Hurree Babu at Kitabkhana, India’s first literary blog. She lives in Delhi with two cats and her husband, and on Twitter at twitter.com/nilanjanaroy.
Read More