Troubled Waters

About the Book

A SCINTILLATING NEW TRANSLATION OF THE CLASSIC TAMIL NOVEL.

As the winds of political intrigue and dynastic upheavals blow through the Chozha Empire, it all comes down to one woman-the powerful Pazhuvoor Ilaiya Rani, Nandini. What is the strange power she wields over her influential husband, Periya Pazhuvettaraiyar? Why does the mere mention of her name torment Crown Prince Aditya Karikalan?

When Ponniyin Selvan was first serialised in Kalki, no one could have imagined the impact it would have on the circulation of the magazine. Today, this pioneering work is considered one of the great classics of Tamil literature.

This unabridged and first-rate translation of Kalki Krishnamurthy's masterwork by Nandini Krishnan is at once faithful to the original and accessible to the readers of this day. Carefully crafted in lyrical prose, Troubled Waters-Book Two in the Ponniyin Selvan series-is the quintessential page-turner: full of adventure, intrigue, conspiracy and romance.

About the Author

'Kalki' is the pen name of Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy (1899-1954), whose career in writing and journalism began as activism during the struggle for Indian independence. He served as editor of the popular Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan before launching Kalki. The magazine-and eventually its founder-was named for the mythological tenth avatar of Vishnu to symbolise a vision to destroy regressive regimes, express radical thoughts, take readers into new directions, and create a new era'. Kalki wrote several novels, including Parthiban Kanavu and Sivakamiyin Sabadam, as well as political essays, film reviews, dance and music critiques and scholarly work.

About the Translator

Nandini Krishnan is the author of Hitched: The Modern Woman and Arranged Marriage and Invisible Men: Inside India's Transmasculine Networks. She has translated two of Perumal Murugan's works into English: Estuary and Four Strokes of Luck. She was shortlisted for the PEN Presents translation prize 2022 and the Ali Jawad Zaidi Memorial Prize for translation from Urdu 2022. She is an alumna of the Writer's Bloc playwrights' workshop by the Royal Court Theatre, London. Her novel-in-manuscript was a winner of the Caravan Writers of India Festival contest and showcased at the Writers of the World Festival, Paris, 2014.