Written in Jha's exquisitely crafted and beautiful, precise prose, If You Are Afraid of Heights offers the reader a glimpse into a looking-glass world where nothing is quite what it seems and yet everything is strangely familiar. A man and a woman meet in a midnight road accident and fall in love. A reporter arrives in a small town to uncover the story of a child's rape and murder. A young girl, shaken by a series of suicides in her neighbourhood, worries for her parents' safety. Three seemingly separate stories, and yet ...
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Written in Jha's exquisitely crafted and beautiful, precise prose, If You Are Afraid of Heights offers the reader a glimpse into a looking-glass world where nothing is quite what it seems and yet everything is strangely familiar. A man and a woman meet in a midnight road accident and fall in love. A reporter arrives in a small town to uncover the story of a child's rape and murder. A young girl, shaken by a series of suicides in her neighbourhood, worries for her parents' safety. Three seemingly separate stories, and yet interwoven themes and recurring motifs suggest a connection between the strands: a crow flying overhead, a sky-scraper larger than any built before, a dog missing part of its tail, a news report . . . In a novel that defies categorisation, Jha tackles issues of abuse, neglect, and the power of hope: If You Are Afraid of Heights is about the private journeys that people take in their minds; about imaginations fuelled by the images and narratives of a city. The result is a breathtaking odyssey that draws you deep into the uncharted zone between fantasy and reality, deep into the longings and secrets of human lives.
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