Book Title: Ghost-Eye: A Novel
Author: Amitav Ghosh
Publisher: Fourth Estate India
Number of Pages: 336
ISBN: 9373073435
Date Published: Dec. 15, 2025
Price: INR 535 / $29
Book Review
Ace writer Amitav Ghosh’s “Ghost-Eye” weaves a haunting tale of memory, reincarnation, and the fragile ties between humans and nature. Set against the shifting landscapes of 1960s Calcutta and the misty Sundarbans, the story follows a young girl named Varsha who claims vivid past-life memories as a fisherwoman from the delta. Through the eyes of psychiatrist Shoma Bose and her nephew Dinu, Ghosh unfolds a mystery that spans decades, blending everyday life with whispers of the uncanny.
The novel shifts from Ghosh’s usual epic backdrops to a tight whodunit style, probing cultural forgetfulness and clashes between science and the unseen. Shoma, a rational thinker drawn to Varsha’s “reincarnation case,” grapples with folk tales of goddesses like Mansa Devi and Behula, set against real events like riots and pandemics. The Sundarbans emerge as a living force, full of fish, floods, and climate warnings that mirror the characters’ inner turmoil.
Author Ghosh’s prose shines with quiet power, mixing magic realism and sharp details of cooking, migration, and loss. He questions if reason alone can grasp lived wonders or ecological grief, using Varsha’s story to link personal hauntings with global crises. Side threads on rootedness versus movement add depth, though some historical touches feel light.
Yet the book stumbles at the close, rushing resolutions without full payoff, diluting its spell. Still, it celebrates storytelling as a bridge over rational gaps, urging richer ways to face our warming world. Fans of The Hungry Tide will find familiar tides here, elevated by Ghosh’s deft hand.
“Ghost-Eye” lingers like a delta mist, a bold call to honour the unseen in our stories and surroundings.
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