Book Review of " Francis Ittikora" by T. D Ramakrishnan

Genre: Malayalam Fiction, Alternate history.

Plot

Xavier Fernando Ittikora, a U. S military soldier who participated in the Iraq war is disappointed about his falling libido after witnessing the atrocities of the war. He contacts 'The school' - a secret 'school that teaches you the art of love making' situated in Kochi, Kerala and run by three friends Bindu, Rekha and Rashmi to help him regain his vitality through their expertise in sexual gratification. He also requests them help him in collecting more information about his ancestral links in Kerala thought to originate from a man addressed as 'Korappapan'. ' Korappapan' is said to be a spice merchant operating out of earlier port township of Kunnamkulam in Thrissur, Kerala. In their inquiries Bindu, Rekha and Rashmi  come into contact with a secret society run by an influential family named 'Pathinettam Kootukar' who considers 'Korappapan' to be their God.

Ittikora's friend Hashimotto Morigami, a Mathematician who earned her PhD from Princeton in 'The history of Non European Mathematics' is already busy collecting information about 'Korappapan' as a part of her research publication coauthored by the world renowned Mathematician Paul Erdos. Her quest leads her to startling conclusions about how 'Korappapan' or 'Francis Ittikora', might be the real father of European Mathematics. She discovers that against its commonly assumed history, European Mathematics is largely based on theories of Hypatia- a Greek Alexandrian Neoplatonist philosopher in Egypt who lived around AD 350.

What unravels after this is an exciting story that threads through the history of Mathematics, lives of famous mathematicians like Hypatia of Greece, Paul Erdos, Alexander Grothendieck, Peruvian revolutionary Tupac Amaru and a cannibalistic secret society that survived him, Italian statesman Lorenzo de medici and Italian painters Michelangelo and Raphel.

My opinion

Being a history freak, what got me engrossed was the fascinating fictional history(blended with real history) of various famous people, world events, secret societies and the possibility of how most of them could be tied to one man named 'Francis Ittikora'. I also enjoyed the way author progressed on multiple story threads spanning various characters, timelines and countries without loosing grip only to tie them into a beautiful knot at the end. However, I felt that the climax was rushed through and the curtains fell before I could anticipate them.

Bottomline

This book is a nice example of how interesting 'alternate history' could actually turn out to be. So if you find topics of history and mathematics  interesting, this fiction will be a joy to read.