What of the many travels undertaken through history by men and women, in war and peace, that have been unrecorded, invisible, and forgotten?
In Benyamin’s Silent Journeys, we trace the voyage of Mariamma, a young nurse from Kerala who travelled from her hometown in Manthalir all the way across the world. Nothing was known of her journey until many decades later, when a curious great grandson began his investigations only to stumble across a tale of great adventure, hardship, resilience, and love.
The novel reflects upon terrific stories of unaccompanied and courageous journeys that many valiant women, primarily nurses, have made through history, reaching the coldest places in the Arctic, Canada, remote tribal locations in the desert, the interiors of the dark continent, and almost everywhere in Europe
About the Author
Benyamin is an acclaimed author writing in the Malayalam. in 2009, his novel Aadu Jeevitham (Goat Days) won the Kerala Sahitya Akedemi Award. It was translated into English by Joseph Koyyippally and in 2013, it was shortlisted for the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. In 2018, benyamin won the JCB Prize for Literature for his novel Mullapoo Niramulla Pakalukal (Jasmine Days), translated into English by Shahnaz Habib.