Description
Join us for an intimate evening at Bigglestones Books as we welcome award-winning author Mahesh Rao to discuss his captivating new novel, Half Light (Pushkin Press)
- In Conversation with Mahesh Rao
- Monday 20 October 2025
- 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
- Bigglestones Books, 57 Glassford Street, Glasgow G1 1TS
High in the mountains of Darjeeling, a landslide traps the guests and staff of a crumbling hotel. Cooped up inside, two men exchange lingering glances. For Neville, this is one of many thrilling encounters – urgent kisses in stairwells and parked cars. But for hotel employee Pavan, their connection threatens to unravel everything he has kept hidden.
Years later, their paths collide once more, surrounded by the towering skyscrapers and ghostly smog of Mumbai. Neville is now a restless graduate, adrift in the city, while Pavan has started a new life, away from the hills. When Neville strides into his workplace demanding a meeting, their flirtation turns fraught, and long-buried secrets threaten to tumble into the light.
Set on the cusp of India’s landmark ruling to decriminalise homosexuality, Half Light is a tender, richly atmospheric and elegantly wry story of outlawed desire and the fragile hope for a life beyond concealment.
About the Author:
Mahesh Rao was born and grew up in Nairobi, Kenya. He studied politics and economics at the University of Bristol, and law at the University of Cambridge and the London School of Economics. In the UK he has worked as a lawyer, academic researcher and bookseller. His short fiction has been shortlisted for various awards, including the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Prospect, Conde Nast Traveller, The Baffler, Prairie Schooner, Caravan and Elle. His debut novel, ‘The Smoke Is Rising’, won the Tata First Book Award for fiction and was shortlisted for the Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize and the Crossword Prize. ‘One Point Two Billion’, his collection of short stories, was published in 2015. ‘Polite Society’, his Delhi-set reimagining of Jane Austen’s ‘Emma’, was published to critical acclaim in 2018. ‘Half Light’ is his most recent novel. Mahesh is also a mentor for South Asia Speaks, a mentorship programme dedicated to nurturing new literary voices across South Asia.
Expect a rich discussion on Rao’s elegant prose, themes of concealment and longing, and the novel’s evocative settings. All attendees will receive a 10% discount to use in-store on the night.
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