Book excerpt: The Dance of the Sea is a tale of fisherfolk that live in an obscure coastal slum village situated in the southernmost tip of the Indian Subcontinent. It is the place where Sebastian becomes an engineer, rising up among the illiterate ruffian masses that have nerves of steel and a proclivity for ethnocentric violence. Sebastian deserts Gloria after their many trysts climax in a passionate lovemaking among the moonlit coconut grove where both lose their virginity. Gloria lives independently and becomes a rare and multi-faceted personality—a successful painter, an entrepreneur, and a social worker—riding well past Sebastian in fame and wealth. Torn between warring in-laws and his poverty-stricken sister Rebecca, Sebastian takes sides with the in-laws, leaving his sister in a financial predicament. She suffers from the overuse of loan usury to purchase a fishing trawler. Gloria supports Rebecca as much as she can in financial crises. Nature is unkind to them. The tsunami in 2004 wreaks devastating destruction, thousands of fisherfolk die like flies, and their properties return to the depths of the sea. The tsunami ends Gloria’s life as well. The rivalry between mechanised fishing and traditional vallam fishing escalates as arsonists set the fishing trawlers afire, including the one owned by Rebecca. Will Sebastian rescue his sister Rebecca from the aftermath of misfortunes? Will the karma of deserting Gloria haunt Sebastian forever? What is that secret which Gloria has kept undisclosed to Sebastian all along? What shapes the psyche of these Catholic fisherfolk, the faith in religion or sorcery? Reader will discover not only the answers, but also the dark tunnels of suspense and awe-inspiring unique lifestyles of humanity unknown to the rest of the world.