Rough Streets

Growing up in 1980s Shillong, schoolboy Chandan Sen learns hard lessons about loyalty, love and belonging. He gets inadvertently involved in the lives of a young female singer later found dead in a forest and the school teacher accused of her murder: slowly, over the years, Chandan will arrive at the heart of this mystery, but at a great personal cost. When he turns 18, Chandan must, against his wishes, leave behind the small-town life he knows and step into a larger India. Rough Streets is a poignant coming-of-age tale set against a backdrop of coal mining, militancy, and anti-outsider sentiments.

Ankush Saikia is the author of 10 previous books including the crime novella e-book A Natural History of Violence.