A novel by Ryhaan Shah

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In 1917, the last ship taking indentured labourers from India to the sugar plantations of British Guiana sets sail, taking with it Rampat and Parvati, a childless couple looking for a new future. During a furious storm at sea, a child is born and put into their arms as the unwed mother dies.They adopt the child and call her Neela.

From the outset, Neela's birth engenders talk of the mystery surrounding the legend of the sea goddess, Ganga. Fifteen years later, and Neela seems to imbibe some of this adoration and fear herself, viewed as both divine and human; a destroyer and saviour.

Neela's story, told against the backdrop of the growing racial conflict between Indians and Africans, reveals a country and a people shaped by history and mythological superstition.

Kumar Mahabir

is a full-time anthropologist at the University of Guyana (UG) and Fellow of The Eccles Centre for American Studies, British Library (2022-23). He is a former Assistant Professor at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT). He obtained his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida (UF). As a doctoral student, he won a Florida Caribbean Institute Award, an A. Curtis Wilgus Grant, and an Organization of American States (OAS) Fellowship.
Mahabir received a National Award (Hummingbird Silver Medal) for his contribution to education in his country in 2011. He was among 50 recipients who received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the UWI Alumni Association.
Mahabir is the author of 12 books to date.

Weaving Water

A novel by Ryhaan Shah

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