Half Light
Autumn 2025
In the misty mountains of Darjeeling, a landslide entraps the guests and staff of a dilapidated hotel. Cooped up inside, two men exchange lingering glances. For carefree Neville, this is one of many exhilarating encounters, stolen kisses in stairways and parked cars. But for Pavan, an employee desperate to avoid detection, their entanglement prises open his carefully contained and solitary existence with unforgettable consequences.
Four years later, their paths cross again amidst the towering skyscrapers and ghostly smog of Mumbai. Pavan has fled the hills, burying all memories of their encounter, while Neville is now a flailing graduate, craving something more than the naked torsos blowing up his phone. When he glimpses Pavan working behind the reception of a luxurious hotel, he demands a meeting, pursuing him with mischief and menace as the secrets of their time together threaten to tumble into the light.
Set on the brink of India’s ruling to decriminalise homosexuality, this is a tender, richly atmospheric and elegantly wry story of outlawed desire and the hope of a life beyond concealment.
Praise for Mahesh Rao
“Witty, moving, and powerful. He has a ventriloquist’s gift for different voices.”
Guardian
“The medieval and the modern India are depicted here as co-existing, and Rao has succeeded in capturing this with delicacy and insight.”
Times Literary Supplement
“A darkly comic novel . . . Rao veers between sharp, economic dialogue that can be both hilarious and disquieting.”
Spectator
“A richly imagined and ably observed comedy of manners. Rao writes with knowing insight.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“Pretty much everything fiction should be: well-crafted, interesting and illuminating.”
Asian Review of Books