What a great read! This story takes us deep into the Sundarbarns, the mangrove forest located at the border between India and Bangladesh. Here in the tide country, life is ruled by the dictating rhythm of the ebb and flow through the rivers, and by the never-ceasing dangers posed by tigers, crocodiles and cyclones. What are we, as humans, to make of a natural world that poses a constant threat, prompting wives to dress in widow's garments every day when their husbands leave on their fishing boats? Are we apart from or a part of that natural world - and what responsibility do we have towards it? A tale of unlikely encounters, the novel explores these questions through life in the tide country, as seen by both outsiders and insiders; a local fisherman, son of a refugee, a high-caste translator from Calcutta, a marine mammal researcher from the US, a social worker, a Marxist poet and teacher.

I loved reading this! I think it really thrives through its characters, whose lives and viewpoints interweave, standing representatively for different viewpoints on life in the tide country and life in nature more generally. I loved how this approach made all the intricacies, tensions and uncertainties about those big questions visible. But the characters are not just stand-ins, we also get to appreciate (or dislike) them as themselves, get to see them evolve and witness them coming out of it all as changed people (and that's what it's all about!!). The book also does a really good job at sucking you into this environment. It made me feel very connected to the Sundarbans, despite not having had any experiences in my life that would easily allow me to relate to what life there must be like! To accompany reading, I found this beautiful photo series by Swastik Pal of his travels though the tide country: https://atmos.earth/science-and-nature/the-tide-country/