New Delhi, July 18 - Pinki Virani, the award-winning author of three controversial non-fiction books that dealt with issues as diverse as sexual abuse of children and Mumbai's fragile social fabric, is back -- this time with a fictional tale of contemporary Indian history.

'My new book 'Deaf Heaven' is about the oral contemporary history of India -- narrated by a sutradhar (storyteller). It is a new format that I have experimented with for the first time,' Virani told IANS in an interview in the capital Friday, a day before the release of the book.

'I have not come across this literary device in Indian fiction before in which the spirit of a dead narrator tells a pan-Indian story -- its crises and realities -- through a set of characters bound by six degrees of separation over a life changing weekend,' she said.

The journalist-cum-author's latest offering has an intriguing plot.

'Swaraswati, a Bengali librarian with a cleft lip, whose words cannot makes sense to people in life because of the deformity, dies on a Thursday amid her beloved books in the library,' said Virani, narrating the story.

'Her body is discovered on Monday. In the meantime, her spirit, freed from life, begins talking to people -- a common cast -- that includes her sister Damayanti, wife of a superstar; Tisca, a heroine spurned by a rising star; Qudsia Begum, a Bangalore beautician and wise mother; Czaerandhari, a former maharani and SMS addict; and Nafisa, a hard talking journalist.

'They are from all across the country. The dead Swaraswati narrates their stories, conflicts and crises that underlie progressive modernity in India.'

The characters that the spooky sutradhar Swaraswati talks to include three men -- a wily bank employee, a father and brother who leave a woman bleeding.

The book published by HarperCollins is being released just days before the country witnesses a total solar eclipse, which Virani has used as 'a flashpoint -- a day of change'.