In the Moonlit Kingdom by Aishwarya Jha

Phantoms from the past

In award- winning author Aishwarya Jha’s second novel, the haunted house trope gets a neat twist.  When a prodigal daughter returns home for her father’s funeral, it sets off a chain of events. Old ghosts rear their head, a reckoning awaits.

The reader watches a large part of the story unfolding through the eyes of the daughter, Meher. Her family home is an old, crumbling but still stately pile in the mountain town of Munala. This house, like Manderlay in DuMaurier’s classic ‘Rebecca,’ becomes a distinct character in the story.

Meher’s family, the Chandra Singhs, had bought it off the last descendants of the Calverts, a  British family. The place harbours spirits that seem to haunt only Meher. She had run away from it and made a life for herself abroad but back home now, she is unsettled and disturbed again.

The Chandra Singhs are considered the ‘first family’ of Munala on account of their wealth and social standing. Devyani, Meher’s mother, was once a famous film actress who abandoned her flourishing career for marriage and motherhood. She is the focal point of attention in Munala due to her past fame and good looks. Mother and daughter share a fraught relationship. Meher is cast as the proverbial bad apple; prone to acting out,  she gains the reputation of being unstable. Devyani on the other hand, attracts sympathy for having to deal with such a difficult daughter.

A mysterious gift

The story is intricately plotted. A mysterious gift is left to Meher by her father. Hunting for the provenance of that gift turns out to be the loose string that unravels the whole tale. Meher stumbles upon a horrifying truth that helps in both making sense of her hallucinations and putting her ghosts to rest. This reality hits both her and the reader hard while giving Meher closure and redemption.

Devyani is a fascinating character study. Drawn as beautiful,  fragile and flawed, she is quite literally the star in the movie of her own making. This is a woman who, having been used to the spotlight on her, will ensure it stays so.  Adept at playing the victim card and surrounded by pliable family and friends who behave like acolytes, she shapes the narrative of her relationship with Meher. Meher’s innate strength lies in surviving and carving a life for herself. Her hallucinations have her come across as a disturbed person, but by the end of the book, she has faced her ghosts and stopped running.

Inter-generational trauma and abuse are folded into the story. The compelling questions  that the book throws up are that when there are competing narratives, whose voice is to be taken as the true version?  And why do people choose one version over the other?  When repressed memories bury trauma deep, can one give a clear account of what is actually happening?

This atmospheric book works as many things: a thriller/ ghost story/ a family saga/ a relationship drama dealing with some serious issues, all of it seamlessly meshing to make for an absorbing read.

In the Moonlit Kingdom by Aishwarya Jha. Penguin Books. 362 pages. 499 rupees. 

https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/2026/Nov/08/phantoms-from-the-past

This appeared in TNIE of 8 November 2026.

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