Anti-clock (SHORTLISTED FOR THE JCB PRIZE, FROM THE WINNER OF THE KERALA SAHITYA AKADEMI AWARD, VAYALAR AWARD)

V.J. James (Author)
V.J. James writes in Malayalam. Born and brought up in Changanacherry, Kerala, he currently resides in Thiruvananthapuram. An engineer by profession, he worked at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. His debut novel,
Purappadinte Pusthakam (The Book of Exodus), was awarded the DC Silver Jubilee Award (1999), Malayattoor Prize and Rotary Literary Award.
Other awards include the O.V. Vijayan Award and Thikkurissi Award for Anti-Clock, and the Thoppil Ravi Award, Kerala Bhasha Institute
Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, Basheer Puraskaram and Vayalar Award for Nireeswaran. The English translation of Chorashasthram was
shortlisted for the Atta Galatta Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize.
The Malayalam film Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol, starring Mohanlal
and Meena, is an adaptation of his short story 'Pranayopanishath'. Along
with six short story collections, his major works include Purappadinte Pusthakam (1999), Chorashasthram (2002), Dathapaharam (2005), Leyka (2006), Ottakkaalan Kakka (2013), Nireeswaran (2014) and Anti-Clock
(2018). The English translation of Anti-Clock was shortlisted for the JCB
Prize for Literature 2021.

Ministhy S. (Translator)
Ministhy S. is an IAS officer working in the Uttar Pradesh cadre. She translates between three languages: English, Malayalam and Hindi. Her translation of The Poison of Love by Malayalam novelist K.R. Meera was longlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2017 and The Unseeing Idol of Light by the same author was shortlisted for the
Crossword Book Jury Awards in 2018. Her translation of Anti-Clock was shortlisted for the JCB Prize for Literature 2021. She has further translated Sundar Kanda and Kishkindha Kanda from Awadhi into English, and the
poetry collections My Home, After Me by Agneya from the Hindi and The
Heaviness of the Rain by Veerankutty from the Malayalam.

PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE IS PROUD TO PUBLISH ANTI-CLOCK, WINNER OF THE O.V. VIJAYAN AWARD AND THIKKURISSI AWARD

'James is very inventive and very imaginative with a great sense of humour. There is a sort of eccentric genius animating the story' JURY, JCB PRIZE FOR LITERTURE

'A philosophical novel that discusses the mysterious problems of life and death' BENYAMIN

'"Time is everything, man is nothing; he is, at most, time's carcass." V.J. James's novel Anti-Clock has given an extremely creative twist to these words by Karl Marx' O.V. VIJAYAN PRIZE

Hendri, the coffin maker, has one goal in life: to see the dead body of his nemesis Satan Loppo being lowered into the coffin he has painstakingly carved. For it was Loppo who defiled his beloved Beatrice, and let loose his hellhound Hitler upon Hendri, giving him a permanent limp.
From inside his coffin shop, Hendri watches the world go by even as he prepares to deliver justice upon Loppo. He is confronted by the son of his best friend becoming enamoured with Loppo's wealth, Loppo's evil designs towards the hills of Aadi Nadu, and his own Christian guilt that regularly comes to haunt him. Until he meets Pundit, a 112-year-old watchmaker who was part of Bose's Indian National Army and is building an 'Anti-Clock', which can turn back time. When Loppo too hears of the Anti-Clock and desires to possess it, the inevitable battle becomes a reality.

A philosophical novel that discusses the mysterious problems of life and death"Time is everything, man is nothing; he is, at most, time's carcass." V.J. James's novel Anti-Clock has given an extremely creative twist to these words by Karl Marx'

Anti-clock is outrageous in that it's about a coffin maker. James is very inventive and very imaginative with a great sense of humour. There is a sort of eccentric genius animating the story with the anti-clock, a coffin maker, and an antagonist who is such a caricature yet feels so real because we see him through the eyes of the protagonist.

The novel travels beyond, and is a deep exploration of life, death and time.The author, whose novel is on the JCB Prize longlist this year, talks about society's traps, unlikely heroes, and the power of language.What Anti-Clock does masterfully is trace the lines of living in close proximity to religion and the cracks that form along the way.