The incredible stories of a small town

Sebastian Mathew makes a sparkling debut with his novel, ‘The Solitude of Guilt’

By Shevlin Sebastian

One morning, a few years ago, when Sebastian Mathew woke up at his home in Kuwait, he recited four lines of a Hindi poem he had learnt when he was in class six at the St. Joseph’s school in Kozhikode. The poem was about Yashodhara, the wife of Prince Sidhartha who later became Lord Buddha.

“The minute he learns she is pregnant, he walks off,” says Sebastian. “She adjusts to life without him and brings up her son Rahula. But she always has this underlying fear of him returning. There is a lot of turmoil within her about how it would be.”

Yashodhara’s story resulted in a character called Susan forming in Sebastian’s imagination. “Her husband had abandoned her, but now she has the apprehension he is coming back,” says Sebastian.

So, he embarked on a novel. Sebastian wrote for one year and then got stuck. So, he concentrated on his career as an ophthalmologist at the Al-Bahar Eye Centre.

One evening, he was having dinner at home with his family: daughter Naina, son Manav, and wife Tessa.

Suddenly, Tessa said, “Have you given up on writing the book?”

Sebastian said, “No, I haven’t.”

“Then you need to get back to it,” she said. “It’s your passion. You should start writing again.”

So, Sebastian made another attempt. He would sit at his desk daily at 4.30 p.m. and write for two hours. “There were days when I hardly wrote anything,” he says. “Then I would edit the earlier stuff. But on days when I felt inspired, I would write 1500 words.”

The result, after nine years, is the riveting 297-page novel, available of Amazon, called ‘The Solitude of Guilt’. It tells the story of a plantation owner Chandi Mappilla and his family members Susan, Elikutty, Rahul and Susan’s husband Gautam.

The first few lines of the book grab the reader’s attention:

‘I am Rahula.

‘Rahul, snot-face, Big Bore, retard, walking vegetable, cabbage-head, the unfortunate, the ill-omen, the disaster, the accident, the mistake, the silent.

‘It is strange I was born the day my father beat my mother nearly to death. I was born eight weeks early; trauma has a way of setting things in motion. The fact that the foetus survived the assault, and its aftermath was called a “bloody miracle” by Dr Markose, the senior doctor of the village.’

The writing is beautiful and immersive. You feel yourself sinking into the milieu of small-town Kerala.

Readers have responded well. On Amazon, Sandeep writes:

‘A very well-written novel set in Kerala…. each character has been well drawn out, brought to life with vivid descriptions and is sure to strike a chord with you.

‘From the peaceful village of Pullussery to the bustling city of Bangalore and then to the tranquil coffee estates of Madukuzhy, the author has successfully handled the transitions across geographies, just as he has with the generations, with ease.’

Sebastian arrives as a fully formed talent. His voice is assured, confident and resonant.

Asked the meaning of the title, Sebastian says, “We are all alone in our guilt. It is not something we can share. All the main characters have some level of guilt, but they deal with it differently.”

Art student Dia Thomas has done the eye-catching pen drawing on the cover. It captures a naked and pregnant Susan, lying on a forest floor, with foliage all around, her head resting on her palms, while there are bloodstains on the forehead, cheeks, neck and arms. But rising behind her and attached to her body is a butterfly wing.

“It’s a metaphor,” says Sebastian. “She has wings but cannot fly.”

Sebastian is also wondering whether he can fly, too. The world is changing. He knows that the readership is going down for literary fiction. “There is a lot of competition from other mediums, like TV, online, mobile and streaming,” says Sebastian. “There are other avenues for reading, like a blog, for instance.”

The concept of buying a book is going down. Even bookstores are closing down. “Somebody told me that a large bookstore chain like Barnes and Noble in the US is going through a crisis,” says Sebastian. “They are shutting down a lot of their stores. This is a global trend where book-reading is becoming less popular.”

Despite that, the number of writers has increased. “I would say Arundhati Roy’s huge international success with her ‘The God of Small Things’ made a big impact,” he says. “In the last twenty years, there have been many people who have been drawn to the literary genre.”

As a first-time author, Sebastian had a trying time to find mainstream publishers. “Publishers are looking for books that will generate sales,” he says. “What happens to good literature? I am struck by [Kochi-based author] Anees Salim’s story. His first two novels were rejected. But the third one got published. It received rave reviews. Then people looked at the first two. Eventually, these were published, and all three got recognition and awards.”

Sebastian is sure that a lot of good writing is being missed. “But I don’t know what the solution is,” he says. “Maybe, major publishing houses should do something similar to what is there in the business world: corporate social responsibility. So, publishers should have a division which only looks at new writing, vetting unknown talent. The aim is to bring out good literature and not bother about profits.”

Apart from online, the book is available at all Crossword stores across India.

As for his future plans as a writer, Sebastian, who is attached to the National Health Service at Boston, England, is working on a collection of short stories.