A Speck of Coal Dust

Remarkably accomplished ... unforgettable' - AMIT CHAUDHURI

'Deeply personal and profoundly historical' - SAIKAT MAJUMDAR

First published in 1996 as In the Light of the Black Sun and long unavailable, Rohit Manchanda's debut novel, A Speck of Coal Dust, is one of the finest coming-of-age narratives in Indian-English writing and a forgotten classic.

Set in the coal-mining regions of eastern India, this exquisitely crafted work follows Vipul, the eleven-year-old son of a mine manager, as he awakens to the mysteries of life in a backwater town marooned in time. He finds in his environs much to marvel at, to dread, to love and to cherish, while a motley cast of characters - oddball friends, capricious teachers, a comics-loving swami, missionaries, and tinpot rogues - floats into and out of his life.