Cassie McCullagh

His role grows as the novel goes on.

Yes.

So this all unfolds, as you would imagine, through the thread of the story of the girl who wanted the fish.

So what did the paediatrician and the psychologist do?

They came up with a solution that worked.

Because the house was Hindu, as we mentioned, they didn't want any trace of food.

So Dev, driving the big ambassador car – I don't know that brand, but it's well described in the book –

takes Shoma to the household where she picks up little Varsha, three-year-old Varsha, and she sits in the car and she lets her eat fish in the car.

So she then gains her trust and begins to learn more and more about what this child's interior life is like.

And

it does really convince you that she has had another life entirely as a very poor fisherman's wife in a place that's not too far away, but, you know, there's no possible connection with her family.

Yes, there's a level of magical realism to this and quite delightfully so.

But also you do think about the way the mind works and you're invited to repeatedly.

And

You know that as the coincidences stack up and as the narrative continues to build and the mystery of Varsha and her past life and the current one that she's living continues to grow, you know there's some kind of twist and you can't figure it out until right at the end.

And he pulls that off very well, I think.

How did you find it, Kate?

You didn't like Tipu?

Yeah, so Tipu is the son of a friend and he's mixed up in the environmental movement, which has an edge of spirituality and

He's been bitten by a king cobra, he claims, which has turned slowly one of his eyes white.