Scottishbook of the week

Summer is drawing to a close. The half empty bottle of sunscreen sits forlornly on the bottom cabinet shelf and there’s a well-thumbed, dog-eared copy of this year’s summer read tossed carelessly on the coffee table.

Autumn looms and so does the need for some creature comforts to ease you into the new season: blankets, Sunday roasts, huge woolly scarves and, of course, a new, gripping read. Lucky for you, dear readers, I’ve done the leg work and found just the book to keep you entertained during the long, dark, cold nights that will no doubt be upon our doorsteps all too soon.

Bequeathed several boxes containing fragments of his family’s past, Karna’s Wheel focuses on Stephen’s re-imagining of his grandfather’s lost past in the hope of not only understanding his own identity but the mystery that surrounds his half- Scottish, halfIndian mother. Transporting the reader from the humble pavements of St Andrews to the exotic streets of Calcutta, it is an interesting read that flits between different timeframes as secrets of Stephen’s family, long hidden, are brought back to life.

Karna’s wheel is a literary equivalent of a Russian nesting doll; a story within a story that is revealed carefully as the plot moves forward, each one more decorative than the one before. Whether you like the storyline or not, you will be able to appreciate the unique writing talents of Tobert who presents an almost lyrical style of narrative. Karna’s Wheel is a distinctive novel that focuses on the power of one’s inheritance and how some actions can unknowingly impact one’s descendancy for years to come.