Renowned author Amitav Ghosh returns to the ecologically fragile world of the Sundarbans with his latest novel, Ghost-Eye. This new work advances the narrative he began nearly two decades ago in The Hungry Tide (2004) and expanded globally in Gun Island (2019).
Two Decades of Climate-Conscious Storytelling
Over the past twenty years, Amitav Ghosh has meticulously built a literary universe centered on the climate emergency. His fiction, including The Hungry Tide and Gun Island, is deeply informed by extensive research, travel, and non-fiction works like The Great Derangement (2016) and The Nutmeg's Curse (2021). These works collectively critique the roles of capitalist greed and public apathy in driving environmental disasters that disrupt ancient ecosystems and biodiversity, leading to rising seas, wildfires, and pandemics.
In 2025, Ghosh also published a translation of the Sundarbans folklore Bonbibi Johuranama, expertly adapting it to mimic the original dwipodi poyar meter. This deep engagement with indigenous stories and scientific literature allows him to paint authentic, haunting portraits of communities on the front lines of ecological collapse.
Ghost-Eye: A Remote Yet Intimate Return
In his new 336-page novel, priced at ₹799 and published by HarperCollins India, Ghosh adopts a unique perspective. The story is set during the COVID-19 pandemic and views the Sundarbans largely from a distance. The narrative is channeled through familiar characters, primarily Dinanath Dutta (Dinu), the rare bookseller from Brooklyn who narrated the previous two installments.
Dinu's childhood in 1960s Calcutta (now Kolkata), under the care of his progressive doctor aunt and uncle, Shoma and Monty, becomes crucial to the plot. The remote exploration of the delta is achieved through Dinu's memories, Shoma's documentation, video calls from Tipu—a climate refugee in Italy—and references to the legend of Manasa Devi, the serpent goddess.
The Supernatural Core: Reincarnation and 'Ghost-Eyes'
The plot kicks off in 1969 with a bizarre event in a conservative Marwari family in Kolkata. Three-year-old Varsha Gupta, raised in strict vegetarianism, suddenly demands fish and rice, claiming memories of a past life. This occurs against a tense backdrop of factory hartals, communal riots in Ahmedabad, and the growing Naxal movement.
Clinical psychologist Shoma diagnoses Varsha as "a case of reincarnation type," echoing Satyajit Ray's Sonar Kella. Ghosh delves into parapsychology and metempsychosis (transmigration of souls across species), filling the narrative with mystical coincidences, premonitions, and spectral appearances.
The novel's title refers to characters like Tipu, who has heterochromia (eyes of different colors), granting him the ability of precognition. "They say ghost-eyes can see two worlds," Tipu explains. Several characters possess this foresight, suggesting a crack in reality that allows glimpses of other times and metaverses, blending science, faith, and the supernatural without venturing into pure sci-fi.
A Daring Imagination: Strength and Stretch
Ghost-Eye represents Ghosh's bold venture into territory often dismissed by rationalist thought. He challenges Enlightenment-era empiricism, arguing that myths and old tales offer a profound understanding of the human predicament, especially in an era of climate crisis. The novel asks readers to suspend disbelief, suggesting that from this act comes a chastisement for human-caused destruction and a renewed faith in forces beyond modern science.
However, this ambitious approach is also the novel's potential pitfall. The reliance on dense coincidences and deus ex machina interventions to tie plot threads can strain the reader's credulity. While the moral imperative behind Ghosh's call to embrace different ways of knowing is clear, its execution may not resonate equally with all readers.
Despite moments of narrative incredulity, Ghost-Eye remains a compelling page-turner. It continues Ghosh's urgent project of framing the climate crisis through a deeply human, culturally rich, and spiritually layered lens, forcing a confrontation with the unseen consequences of our actions on vulnerable people and places.
