credit: Aleph book company/amazon Name of the book: The Remnants of Rebellion, Author: Ponnu Elizabeth Mathew, Published on: 5, July 2025, Publisher: Aleph Book CompanyPonnu Elizabeth Mathew, a journalist, artist, and former newscaster, makes a compelling literary debut with The Remnants of Rebellion. Based in Bengaluru and deeply rooted in the cultural and religious fabric of Kerala’s Syrian Christian community, Mathew brings to this novel the depth of a chronicler and the sensitivity of an insider. Her experience in journalism, combined with academic training in mass communication and Christian studies, informs the novel’s richly layered storytelling.Set in the hauntingly beautiful rubber plantations of Kerala, the novel follows Aleyamma, a grieving, tormented young artist who inherits an old colonial-era bungalow from her grandfather, Eesho. The manor, perched atop a hill in Puthuloor, is not just a physical inheritance but a symbol of a troubled past—rife with whispers of political violence, class struggle, and unresolved familial tension. Locals speak of gruesome murders and ghostly presences, and Aleyamma quickly realizes that the home’s scars run deeper than the walls.Decades earlier, the bungalow had witnessed a very different arrival, that of a young Eesho, employed as a plantation supervisor, along with his wife and dog. Beneath the idyllic calm of the estate, unrest was brewing. Workers were beginning to rebel, their actions echoing the rising tide of the Naxalbari movement sweeping across India in the 1960s. As political tensions mount, Eesho finds his world unraveling in ways that echo through the generations.The novel artfully weaves two timelines—the past, where Eesho navigates the explosive intersections of caste, class, and colonial legacy, and the present, where Aleyamma attempts to understand the silence, loss, and rebellion that shaped her family’s trajectory. Mathew addresses how deeply caste and Christianity remain entangled in Kerala’s social fabric, how patriarchy is embedded even in institutions of faith, and how women seek liberation in both subtle and radical ways.Drawing on a real incident from the author’s grandfather’s life, The Remnants of Rebellion is steeped in historical realism but told with literary grace. It is not only a story of political uprisings but of internal revolutions—those fought within families, communities, and the self. Powerful, poetic, and timely, this is a standout debut that shines a light on the often-overlooked stories of resistance and remembrance in postcolonial India.
