MARTIN Moir, an academic specialising in modern South Asian history, attempts historical fiction in his new book, Not Exactly Shangri-la. The basic plot of the novel is quite simple: a western scholar visits a little know Asian country and shortly finds himself entangled in the complicated local politics.

Timothy, a young academic from Britain, who is the protagonist of the story, is requested to advice the locals on the preservations of a historical monastic chronicle with the help of Huma, an ambitious girl from India.

When a rationalist visits the land of mystics, we see his world take an extraordinary twist at various levels. Moir develops his characters bit by bit, like brilliant strokes of a paint brush, alive to every shade and curve of vibrant hues. To give the story an added dimension, he introduces the romantic element which is nicely blended into the basic narrative flow.

The narrative begins in an academic setting and moves on to a fictitious Himalayan country called Kalapur. Beautifully introduced in the initial pages of the novel as “the Land of Time”, Kalapur has curiously succeeded in sustaining “the essentials of its own uniquely indigenous Buddhist culture with only minor adjustments to modernity”.

Moir succeeds in realising a world that is equal parts graphically vivid and psychologically alive. The narrative has the capability of transporting you to the Himalayas in all their mystic beauty and splendour. There are some deep passages in the novel that have the potential to captivate and inspire the reader and Moir is able to capture the attention of his readers with his sensitive dialogues and narrative development.

Moir carefully exposes the complexities of the politics of both state and religion. He brings to us a world that has religion and spirituality woven into its very texture. His knowledge of local history and politics is quite impressive. However, there are moments where the narrative has a feel of documentation to it. Nevertheless, what the book lacks in terms of profound rendering of the ordinary into literary, it makes up in the element of suspense.

I could not help remembering the novel The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco because of the somewhat similarity in the basic narrative line where the quest to solve some murders in a church unveil many a dark secrets of much broader political and religious nature.

However, some prior knowledge of the region where the book is based and its culture is required to fully appreciate it. In other words, if you’re neither familiar with the region nor interested in history, the book might not be so interesting for you. Sensitive to the heterogeneous challenges of history and structured as a well-connected narrative, Not Exactly Shangri-La makes for a remarkable reading for fans of historical fiction. — Ammara Khan

Not Exactly Shangri-la (HISTORICAL FICTION) By Martin Moir Rupa. & Co., India ISBN 978-81-291-1546-1 264pp. Indian Rs295