About the Book

‘A splendid read by a natural writer whose pen churns emotions: high, low, stormy and calm... like the tides of the Arabian Sea lapping on Goa’s shores.’
– Wendell Rodricks, fashion designer, writer, Goan environmental activist
The unexpected revelations in his mother’s diary, prompts Roberto to return from New York, to his ancestral home in Goa. There, with the help of ayah Carmina, he unravels the mystery surrounding the tragedy that befell his siblings nearly twenty-one years ago, that profoundly affected his psyche, ruining his marriage to Maria.
The month is May, the year 1961, in the village of Loutolim, in Portuguese Goa. The mother, Dona Isabella, anxiously awaits the return of her eldest and favourite son Paulo, who was studying law in Coimbra, Portugal. On the very day of his return, he escapes execution by masked guerrillas seeking the overthrow of the colonial regime. India’s military takeover of Goa unravels the socio-economic foundation of Roberto’s traditional Goan family. His sister Amanda falls in love with a man of lower caste; while Dona Isabella laments the loss of her culture. Haunted by nightmares, Paulo takes to drinking, drugs and sex orgies with the American hippies on the Baga beach. The revelations by ayah Carmina prompts Roberto and Maria to make up for the lost time. This brilliantly crafted story unfolds like a canvas imbued with a profound sensibility, and a sense of foreboding. In The Sting of Peppercorns, Gomes takes on history, love, death, the conflicts of assimilation, and the cultural mores of the people of his native Goa.