New Skin for the Old Ceremony

A novel about youth, the ghosts of friendship, and growing up as a mixed-race person in a small but fiercely proud nation, the story spans India and Skye, seeing the characters exorcise past ghosts in order to face the present.Four estranged friends reunite for a motorcycle trip up the Isle of Skye, in the hope of coming to terms with how their lives have splintered since a transformative ride in Northern India fourteen years earlier. In their fumbling attempts to spiritually reconnect, expectant father Raj, recently widowed Vidushei, always youthful Liam and perpetually fragile Bobby test the limits of their friendship around campfires, on twisty roads, in unexpected Ayahuasca ceremonies, and against discussions of belonging, race, and identity. A novel about youth, the spectres of friendship, and colonial legacies in a small but fiercely proud nation, New Skin for the Old Ceremony spans India and Skye, seeing past ghosts exorcised in order to face the present.