City of Light and Dark

Beneath the swagger of Koel Purie Rinchet's impressive debut novel lies a serious story

- Aditya Mani Jha

Koel Purie Rinchet’s debut novel Clearly Invisible in Paris begins on a supremely confident note, introducing us to its four principal characters via ‘point-of-view’ chapters, the literary equivalent of a ‘split-screen’ device in cinema. Teenaged Russian model Dasha cannot stop herself from showing the finger to the exploitative overlords of the fashion world, even if it stops

her march to the big leagues. Filipina housekeeper (and later, nanny) Rosel is desperate to be reunited with her infant son, but her passport and documents have been confiscated by her conniving ex-employers. Senegalese trans woman Violet struggles with her job as a burlesque dancer, her memories of pre-transition life, and her feelings for Raphael, a handsome beggar she finds herself drawn to. And finally, beautiful, ennui-riddled columnist Neera, married to a handsome, older French filmmaker producer, burying herself in plumes of marijuana smoke and ill-advised trysts with strangers.

Clearly Invisible in Paris is the fun-loving, briskly moving story of these four women connected by circumstances and the same apartment building. It’s a lot of fun watching Neera and Co. laugh and cry with each other, support each other through adversity and generally fumble their way through their unlikely bond. But there are also moments of genuine dramatic heft in their journey and, to the author’s credit, these are handled deftly and with compassion. Rinchet has the ability to be serious without sounding sombre on the page, which isn’t something you can teach.