India, Dec. 20 -- Preparing for my first trip to the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, I felt inspired to pick up a novel set in the landscape as my travel companion. Namita Gokhale's Never Never Land seemed like an obvious choice because the author grew up in Nainital - the hill station that I was scheduled to visit for the Himalayan Echoes literature festival. The author's affection for the place, its people, flora and fauna, gods and goddesses, is a recurrent theme in her work.

Before I caught a first-hand glimpse of the stunning mountains and the mighty deodars, the book prepared me physically and emotionally to be away from the chaos of Mumbai where I live. With its short sentences, bereft of adornment and self-indulgence, it ushered me...