Anti-Clock

Book excerpt: PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE IS PROUD TO PUBLISH ANTI-CLOCK, WINNER OF THE O.V. VIJAYAN AWARD AND THIKKURISSI AWARD 'A philosophical novel that discusses the mysterious problems of life and death' BENYAMIN '"Time is everything, man is nothing; he is, at most, time's carcass." V.J. James's novel Anti-Clock has given an extremely creative twist to these words by Karl Marx' O.V. VIJAYAN PRIZE Hendri, the coffin maker, has one goal in life: to see the dead body of his nemesis Satan Loppo being lowered into the coffin he has painstakingly carved. For it was Loppo who defiled his beloved Beatrice, and let loose his hellhound Hitler upon Hendri, giving him a permanent limp. From inside his coffin shop, Hendri watches the world go by even as he prepares to deliver justice upon Loppo. He is confronted by the son of his best friend becoming enamoured with Loppo's wealth, Loppo's evil designs towards the hills of Aadi Nadu, and his own Christian guilt that regularly comes to haunt him. Until he meets Pundit, a 112-year-old watchmaker who was part of Bose's Indian National Army and is building an 'Anti-Clock', which can turn back time. When Loppo too hears of the Anti-Clock and desires to possess it, the inevitable battle becomes a reality.