Published in 2025
331 pages
Natasha Rai is an Indian-Australian woman who was born in India and migrated to Australia with her parents at the age of ten. She lived in the UK for several years as an adult, and the influence of three homes features in her writing. Her work has appeared in Australia’s first #MeToo anthology, Enough, Overland, Verity La and StylusLit. Her first novel, An Onslaught of Light, was longlisted for the 2017 Richell Prize and the 2018 KYD Unpublished Manuscript Award, and was highly commended for the 2022 WestWords/Ultimo Prize.
What is this book about?
A luminous, beautifully observed novel about the people we once were, and the people we can become – if only we’re brave enough to try.
1990: Indu and Vijay leave India for Australia, seeking a better life. But the move isn’t easy on anyone. Not gentle Indu, who becomes even further estranged from her family, nor the ambitious Vijay, who finds himself unmoored in a culture he doesn’t understand. At the centre is Archana, their quiet, sensitive daughter, who forms a shell to survive the bullying of children and the neglect of adults.
2022: Arch lives her ideal life, solitary and isolated. When her brother calls to say that Vijay is unwell and needs her help, Arch has no choice but to re-enter the world. To do so means confronting her relationship with her father, her queerness and the wounds of her upbringing. But it also might mean opening herself to the potential of a life filled with love.
Can Arch do what it takes to let in the light?
