Our Book of the Week is by a debut author and an independent press – our favourite mash-up!

New Skin for the Old Ceremony is a novel by Scottish-Indian author Arun Sood that tells the story of four estranged friends, reunited for a motorcycle trip up the Isle of Skye. They hope to reconcile how their lives have splintered since a transformative road trip in Northern India fourteen years earlier.

It’s a novel about youth, the spectres of friendship, and colonial legacies spanning India and Scotland, exorcising past ghosts to face the present. Not to mention a nod to the music of Leonard Cohen – what more could you want from a book?

Published by indie press 404 Ink and available now, we recommend buying a copy from your local indie bookshop or you can visit our shop on Bookshop.org.

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