Benyamin’s Silent Journeys, translated into English by Anoop Prathapan, arrives at a time riddled with intolerance, conflict, and widespread mistrust surrounding migration. The novel gives voice to the lives of women whose work and resilience are rarely documented, yet whose impact resonates across generations. Read in these turbulent times, it offers a comforting and reassuring tale – one that highlights courage, endurance, and the quiet power of lives that shape our existence.

The story begins in Manthalir, Kerala, where young graduate Manu faces deep uncertainty about his future, torn between the advice of his parents, his sister, and his girlfriend Janaki, who urge him to build a career in Australia. After a sudden illness lands him in the ICU, Manu is cared for by nurses whose dedication, warmth, and compassion guide him through recovery. Manu comes home holding on to the last thing he remembers doing before his hospitalisation: helping his father sort through the ancestral house that is about to be demolished. As he sifts through old belongings, he discovers a letter tucked away in an old cupboard – written by his great aunt, Mariamma. Mariamma was one of the first from her community to travel abroad as a nurse...

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