‘Your story has left me gasping. Though I did not remember the ferocious details, I had a fairly strong recollection of the incandescent feelings expressed in it. But I wasn’t prepared for the full burst of passion shown by the lovers, and the fitting, though brutal, end. […] When did you write it? No, don’t tell me. I know you wrote it soon after I left India. But let me assure you, dearest Maya, that the passion still abides with me… or shall I say, with us…’
Almost forty years after the end of their passionate affair in New Delhi of the late 1970s, Kevin, a vicar devoted to the political struggle for Scottish independence, and Maya, a reputed author of Hindi literary works, re-establish contact—this time over email. As they slowly re-weave the delicate tapestry of their connection with each missive, they share the stories of their histories, interests, desires and despairs with each other. Ultimately, Kevin and Maya must realize, each on their own, whether the strength of their remembered passion can match the four decades of quotidian life they have both since accrued.
Written with grace and sensitivity, The Last Email is a moving account of two lives lived with passionate intensity, and steeped equally in love and in memory.
About the Author
Equally proficient in Hindi and English, Mridula Garg has written in almost every genre in Hindi: novels, plays, essays, a memoir, a travel account and ninety short stories. Among other awards, her novel, Kathgulab was awarded the Vyas Samman in 2004 and another, Miljul Mann, the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2013. She received the Hellman-Hammet Grant from The Human Rights Watch, New York in 2001. Four of her novels, Chittacobra, Anitya, Kathgulab and Main Aur Main, have been translated into several Indian and foreign languages. Her essays have been published by leading Indian and foreign journals in Hindi and English. She was the keynote speaker at the UN Colloquium for Women at IOWA and was a Research Associate at UC Berkeley, USA, in 1990.
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