The Cliffhangers: A Novel
On New Year's Eve, a tourist is raped in Kadaloor, a tranquil fishing village on the southern coast of the country. The chief suspects are a group of teenaged boys (called the Cliffhangers). As they attempt to prove their innocence, the boys also have to deal with the spectre of communal intolerance that is beginning to divide the Hindu and Muslim fishermen and villagers. Numerous small incidents, in which the boys are sought to be implicated, help ratchet up the stress. The growing communal tension and the hunt for the real rapist intersect, propelling the village to the edge of disaster.
In The Cliffhangers, Sabin Iqbal gives us a brilliant debut novel that illuminates hard truths about the religious fault lines that are dividing the country.
'With The Cliffhangers, Sabin Iqbal marks an impressive literary debut through this coming-of-age tale set within a sleepy coastal village in Kerala, brought to life by a striking narrative infused with nostalgia, an awareness of fractured identities and characters who expose the frailties of our own humanity.' - Shashi Tharoor
'Sabin Iqbal writes about a terrain and its people with the kind of magic that makes you want to visit the book's setting and strike up a conversation with its characters. The Cliffhangers is the story of struggles and redemption. And Iqbal narrates it with wisdom and grace.' - Anees Salim
'The Cliffhangers may never know greatness but Iqbal ensures we will always know what they hoped to be.' - Deepak Unnikrishnan
