India, March 21 -- "We may not have read two books - but at least our underarms are fair and fragrant." Thus goes one of the many wayward remarks of Avtar Kaur, also known as Bibiji. She lives in her ancestral estate in Raigarh, close to Ludhiana in Punjab. Most of her family members have left or died; her only companion is her servant Nachhatar, who drives her around and takes care of the dwindling estate.

Bibiji's reflections, dour yet amusing due to their quirkiness, are the points on which Amarjit Sidhu's novel, A River Runs Back unspools. It begins with Nachhatar driving her to Ludhiana to attend her brother Baljit Singh's funeral. The story's different strands come in bits and snatches, with the flow of her thoughts and memories. ...