White Elephant

Name: White Elephant
Brand: Quercus Books
Price: 30.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder

By: Jeyamohan

Write A Review

Paperback | 27 October 2026 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Format
Paperback

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 13.5

Paperback

RRP $32.99

$30.99

or 4 interest-free payments of $7.75 with

or

Available: 27th October 2026

Preorder. Will ship when available.

"Jeyamohan is one of India's most resourceful makers of literary art" PANKAJ MISHRA

Our understanding of contemporary India is incomplete without reading Jeyamohan" VIVEK SHANBHAG, author of Ghachar Ghochar

The year is 1878 and the south of India is in the grip of a devastating famine.

Aiden Byrne, an Irish police officer and loyal servant to the Crown, encounters two laborers being brutally whipped by the roadside. Their tormentor is an overseer from the Tudor Ice Company, where mammoth blocks of ice, harvested from frozen New England lakes, are broken down for British banquets by workers from the lowest rung of the caste system.

When those same laborers are found murdered, Aiden and Kathavarayan, a charismatic young activist, set out on a journey that brings them face-to-face with the bloody toll of the famine raging through the country. Once so fearless in this heat-blasted land, Aiden will now be forced to grapple with his own precarious role in the machinery of empire.

A vivid reimagining of the first labor uprising in modern Indian history, White Elephant is a soul-searing novel by one of India's greatest living writers, offering a stirring, indelible argument against the pitiless march and corrupting influence of empire.

Translated from the Tamil by Priyamvada Ramkumar

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $89.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.