ASHA OF THE AIR

In Huddles’ fantasy novel inspired by South Asian culture, an abused princess finds love in the arms of a traveling musician and later undertakes a quest to achieve inner peace.

Twenty-one-year-old Asha is the last Raajakumaaree born to Palace Isha, a house that, by the decree of the royal Shaasak, sits in the subpolar forest 800 miles north of the Shaasak’s seat of government. However, she’s ceded her hereditary title to her abusive husband, Cabaan, whose only love is money. As Cabaan uproots the forest for profit, clearing it to plant the grotesque and deadly kuroop trees that feed on mineral deposits and harden into priceless wolfram-wood, Asha takes a substance known as dava to endure his marital attentions. When Asha isn’t numb, she’s miserable; it was she who instigated the marriage, and now she blames herself for the forest’s destruction. Then, on the eve of her 22nd birthday, she meets and falls in love with Ilarô, the royal geetakaar, or poetry singer. Their time together is soon cut short, but Ilarô’s influence on Asha is lasting. She sets out to petition the Shaasak to get a divorce, but will she survive the 800-mile journey and find the closure that she so desperately seeks? Huddles’ omniscient narrative frames Asha’s life as a fable told in the far future. This conceit effectively allows for a fairy tale–like melding of the real and the unreal as well as occasional breaking of the fourth wall. As a result, events feel heightened throughout; the characters—with the exception of Asha’s inventor cousin, Omala—tend toward familiar archetypes, and the second half of the book takes on a mystic bent that adds gravitas and slows the pace. The prose style is accomplished and often unrestrained, with simple dialogue but descriptive flourishes and lengthy musings on meanings and motivations: “the forces of impossibility and inevitability were working evenly on her, leaving no remainder.” The result is immersive and beautiful—a tragic romance that will appeal to lovers of diverse, original storytelling.

A rich, dreamy tale that’s infused with spirituality.