"Tamil Nadu, 1968. Village landlords rule over a feudal system that forces peasants to break their backs in the fields or suffer beatings as punishment. As communities across the region begin to take a stand against the landlords, the landlords vow to break them; Communist Party organizers suffer grisly deaths and food in the market-places becomes scarce. Finally, the landlords descend on one village to set an example to the others... A mighty thunderclap of a novel."