India, Aug. 22 -- Set in Bengaluru during the pandemic, in 2021, Biman Nath's The Whistleblower's Wife features two unlikely women: one who had accused a scientist of sexual harassment, and the accused man Aditya Sen's estranged wife, Madhuri. The duo, who come together following a suicide attempt by Sen, find themselves at the intersection of bureaucracy, power politics and scientific research, even as they attempt to process their feelings and failings. The story begins with Sen, a virologist who was working on a Covid-19 vaccine, in a coma. Madhuri had left him after a student accused him of sexual harassment. Officials at the university where Sen worked claim this separation from his wife and five-year-old son left him depressed, which led him to take the drastic step. A confused Madhuri is surprised to find solidarity in the student, Swati, who accused Aditya of harassment. Swati reveals details of recent interactions with Sen, and says she believes he wasn't depressed at al. One of Sen's colleagues tells Madhuri that, in research institutions, "What matters most is not your work, but your network." And so, a book that begins as a whydunnit reveals the rot within scientific institutions that are meant to work for the benefit of the people but can end up as playgrounds for pharmaceutical companies and the bureaucracy. The first half of the book explores Madhuri's reaction to Sen's suicide attempt. Full of guilt and mulling over their separation, she recalls that her husband had always been at odds with his colleagues and had made no attempts to socialise. Dedicated to his research, he was the quintessential obsessive researcher. As she revisits the fractures in their marriage, Madhuri realises that they knew very little about each other's lives. She hadn't engaged with his work and he had shown little interest in how she spent her time. To add to her turmoil, Swati shows up at the hospital and says "Aditya Sir" wasn't depressed and was actually looking forward to an advancement in his research. Madhuri is surprised at learning about their recent interaction. Here, the author deftly explores anger, jealousy and suspicion on the part of the wife, and fear and guilt on Swati's part. While cases of harassment are rampant in institutions, what this novel does is draw attention to how even movements for justice for women can become tools for men to further their own agendas, especially when promotions and recognition are stake. The writing, with its many lines of dialogue and internal monologues, occasionally drags in its exploration of guilt and grief. The story is set during the pandemic but some of the details of that time seem to have been added on as an afterthought instead of being seamlessly woven in. Still, the reader is absorbed by what is revealed as the story progresses, especially after the appearance of an investigative journalist whom Sen had contacted about a big expose. The woman protagonist stands out, for the complexity of the challenge that faces her: she must try to determine, without her husband's input, what led him to act as he did, and who he really was. In the process, the fractures of a marriage, perceptions of society, and the threats of the powerful are all scrutinised. The Whistleblower's Wife explores how those invested in building capital, in this case, through finding a treatment for Covid-19, can go to great lengths to silence the voice of reason. Thankfully, the author, an astrophysicist formerly with the Raman Research Institute in Bengaluru, doesn't fill the novel's pages with dense research and technical terms that could alienate readers or, perhaps worse, bore them. He keeps it simple by introducing a journalist, Raghunath, who explains the workings of such corrupt systems by citing cases from the past. He helps Madhuri and the reader contextualise Aditya's position on the ongoing research into an anti-viral medicine used to treat Covid-19. A slow-burn novel, The Whistleblower's Wife examines how a web of lies begins to unravel as characters move past their feelings and decipher the hints left behind by the scientist. But what stays with the reader long after the story ends is the book's deep exploration of a marriage and the possible impact on his family of an individual's insistence on sticking to his principles....