Dark Circles by Udayan Mukerjee

Can one indiscretion be allowed to scar a family for life?

Ronojoy's mother dies alone in the Ashram she had abruptly retreated to twenty-eight years ago, leaving him - then only twelve - to fend for the emotional needs of himself and his six-year-old brother.

When the cremation rites are complete, Ronojoy is handed a letter from his mother that is not so much a farewell as a confession. As before, it is left to him to decide whether to share the disturbing contents with his brother, whom he has always sought to protect.

Thus, begins another tumultuous cycle in the lives of the two brothers who already carry deep scars from their childhood; their fragile minds ever at risk of succumbing to the dark.

Written in spare, stark prose, Dark Circles deftly weaves past and present, offering tantalizing glimpses of bottled truths buried deep in the recesses of repressed memory; brilliantly exposing the dark undercurrents that swirl under...