Astray ~ Emma Donoghue

 

*Astray*

*by Emma Donoghue*

Review by Nandakishore Varma Sir

We live in a world of migrants.

This statement may seem to be hyperbolic at first glance, but I request you to think a little on it. Ever since homo sapiens evolved in Africa, humanity has been on the move. In the initial days, in the days of nomadic living, it was as migrants, or in some cases, encroachers. Later, after the beginning of agriculture and the formation of human settlements, it was as explorers - who later became conquerors, pillagers and ultimately, the new settlers. After the formation of the nation states, people moved to new countries in search of a better life as expatriates, or fleeing persecution as refugees.

In _Astray_ , Emma Donoghue looks at a bunch of such migrants across the centuries. In these short vignettes, she talks about all the categories mentioned above - plus a few who travelled across the borders of identities. All the stories except one are based on "historical" incidents - the quotes highlighting the fact that the veracity of that history may be open to debate. What the author has done here is to take any item she fancied from recorded sources - be it a proper biography, a bunch of letters, or even a news clipping - and create her story around it. The names in the records become thinking, living characters. It's fiction which grows around a kernel of truth, like a pearl inside an oyster.

Many of these shorts can be made into full-length novels. But that is not Ms. Donoghue's intention. By highlighting instances of people who go "astray", she invites us to think about our own migrant lives, shifting across countries, identities and beliefs: also of the author who is a permanent migrant in the world of letters.

A brilliant book.