DEFLECTED  (Paperback, Swapnonil Banerjee,Nivedita Sumi Majumdar)

Few know that Mount Everest was discovered by Radhanath Sikdar, an Indian mathematician. Back in the nineteenth century, when the world was learning about Mount Everest for the first time, an unprecedented uprising against the British was fomenting among the Indians. The discovery of the tallest point on Earth became eclipsed by escalating tensions, culminating in the violent Indian Rebellion of 1857. Based on true events, the historical fiction DEFLECTED explores love, friendship, and belonging in a world strained by intercultural friction. When Sikdar meets Sara Langley at a hunting party in the Himalayas, he is reeling from a lack of recognition for his life’s best work. He meets her again a year later when Sara flees to Calcutta to escape the mutiny. Despite the terrible uncertainty of the time, genuine emotions blossom between the two. Unknowingly though, they are inching toward a reckoning, where their destinies will collide with that of a Christian pastor, a pro-native British policeman, a cult assassin, a wronged sepoy, a khemta dancer, and Sikdar’s nationalist-leaning friend. What was to be a period of celebration for science becomes riddled with betrayal, intrigue, and a heart-wrenching test of loyalties.