20 June,2026 10:09 AM IST | Mumbai | Nandini Varma
Jayasree Kalathil and S Hareesh
As Kerala enters a new phase of governance and one wonders about the future of the Left Front in the state, Malayalam novelist S Hareesh's latest novel August 17 (Harper Perennial) reflects on its past. The kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor (Travancore) ruled independently, before joining hands with the Indian Union to form the present-day Kerala. However, in his novel, translated into English by Jayasree Kalathil, Hareesh imagines what it would be like had this integration not happened.
The novel is not a historical account but, in the process of speculating an alternative history, it helps readers understand the tendencies and politics that divided the people of the state. It is narrated from the perspective of an informant, "a CID officer", who is initially looking out for âinstigators' and âtroublemakers' speaking against the government. His narrative position, under many disguises, enables readers to enter spaces and conversations that would otherwise be inaccessible. It is interesting, for instance, to read conversations among revolutionaries and political prisoners in confined spaces.
Basheer's use of several historical figures as characters who drive the narrative is noteworthy. The presence of Malayalam writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, a freedom fighter and founder of the Malayalam newspaper Ujjeevanam, for example, becomes crucial in raising concerns about how we remember history.
We meet him first at a procession, in a gusthi match, and later find him mobilising with slogans like âInquilab Zindabad', holding dialogues in his room as well as in prison. A major highlight of the book is its engagement with women political prisoners like Akkamma and Rosamma Cherian and Annie Mascarene. Albeit appearing as fictional characters in the book, their documentation as activists fighting for liberty ensures they do not remain forgotten voices in Indian history.
