Only connect

{ A NOVEL } OF LONELINESS AND SOLITUDE

- Akankshya Abismruta

A stalker reports that his ex-girlfriend has gone missing, in the early days of the lockdown in 2020 Germany. He points the finger at an Afghan immigrant. The police must investigate the disappearance during the dire health crisis, and are aware that the immigrant may simply be a target. Months later, a reporter arrives seeking a story.

Thus begins Avtar Singh's Into the Forest. A woman named Ahilya then moves into a quaint town on the edge of a forest in Germany, with her husband and teenage son. She is detached from her husband and isn't needed by her son, who is growing up fast. She is neither interested in befriending people from the Indian community nor in being polite to the Germans, who make it seem like they are doing immigrants a huge favour by letting them in.

As she settles into her new life, she begins to take long walks in the forest, with her small dog. There, she comes across an elderly Czech woman, Liesl, an immaculate gardener who, once they cut through the language barrier, offers to accompany her. Up in the forest is a beer garden run by a half-Cuban woman. They notice a young Afghan man, Nabi, sitting on one side of a bench every day at the same time. He works as a janitor at a hospital nearby. The other side is occupied by a younger German woman, Mia. One day Mia disappears and her phone is unreachable.