The Sea Elephants

A Novel

By: Shastri Akella

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

For fans of Shuggie Bain and A Burning, a queer coming-of-age novel set in 1990s India, about a young man who joins a traveling street theater troupe, seeking to outrun the dark secrets of his past

"An exquisite novel destined to be a classic.”―Eric Nguyen, author of Things We Lost to the Water

Shagun knows he will never be the kind of son his father demands. After the sudden deaths of his beloved twin sisters, Shagun flees his own guilt, his mother’s grief, and his father’s violent disapproval by enrolling at an all-boys boarding school. But he doesn’t find true belonging until he encounters a traveling theater troupe performing the Hindu myths of his childhood.

Welcomed by the other storytellers, Shagun thrives, easily embodying mortals and gods, men and women, and living on the road, where his father can’t catch him. When Shagun meets Marc, a charming photographer, he seems to have found the love he always longed for, too. But not even Marc can save him from his lingering shame, nor his father’s ever-present threat to send him to a conversion center. As Shagun’s past begins to engulf him once again, he must decide if he is strong enough to face what he fears most, and to boldly claim his own happiness.

Utterly immersive and spellbinding, The Sea Elephants is both dark and beautiful, harrowing and triumphant. An ode to the redemptive joys of art, Shastri Akella’s debut novel is a celebration of hard-won love—of others and for ourselves.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

©2022 Shastri Akella (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“By turns tender and brutal, The Sea Elephants navigates the tumultuous waters of grief, guilt, and love with grace and precision. Akella has written an exquisite novel destined to be a classic.”—Eric Nguyen, author of Things We Lost to the Water

“Akella’s debut novel is a compelling, beautifully assured and intense coming-of-age story about the wounding ferocity and terrible innocence of desire, and the resilience and hard-won wisdom by which love comes to know itself.”—Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins

“Akella’s powerful debut novel crackles with a magical force. This redemptive tale tracks Shagun Mathur through seaside villages, boarding schools, traveling drama troops, and prison-like re-education centers, as if Dickens had trained his eye on 1990s India and chosen a young, guilt-ridden, love-seeking gay young man as his protagonist. Both harrowing and heartwarming, Akella’s novel is a powerful narrative forged at the intersection of art and being.”—Sabina Murray, author of Valiant Gentlemen and The Human Zoo

Compelling, but very graphic story

This book has so many things going for it. I was hooked right from the start. Set in India, it starts as a coming of age story for a queer young man, Shagun. Tragedy shadows and follows him. The writing was poetic, the story engaging. When Mark comes along, it turns into a sweeping gay romance that was heartbreakingly beautiful. Then the last third of the book made me go, huh? I'm a gay man & certainly not a prude. While the graphic sexual descriptions were an essential part of the story, the volume of them was too much. And Shagun's hesitations & prevarications & intense self analysis was irritating at first, then maddening at it went on & on & on. I was muttering to myself, maybe the title should be Confessions of A Power Bottom. That being said, this novel is richly layered, beautifully narrated & opens an eye into Indian culture and mythology. I agree with others who have said it should have a trigger warning for its scenes of sexual assault. Overall, it's well worth reading, if you can stomach the intense parts. I look forward to what the author writes next.

An amazing case study on gender and religion

This book spoke to so many different facets of me. Familial trauma, religious trauma, relationship woes, and not feeling completely at home in my own body. While I was never forced to undergo the same level of horrors that the main character was, it is truly amazing how many similarities can be pulled across oceans and decades. This is such an important story that NEEDS to be heard.