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When Tethers Fray
382 pages, Paperback
Published May 26, 2025
1 person want to read
About the author
Rajiv Mittal
9 books5 followersTen Years. Four Books. A Thousand Lives Lived.
A decade ago, I set out with 'Brahmahatya', a quiet, contemplative tale that explored guilt, grief, and redemption. Little did I know then that it was the beginning of a long and winding journey through genres, ideas, and—most importantly—myself.
Next came 'The Panchatheertha Part I', a bold, genre-defying leap into allegory and myth, where fable and philosophy met at uncertain crossroads. It was both a departure and a homecoming—a recognition that stories don't have to stay within fences.
Then 'The AI Who Questioned Everything' arrived, a novel that emerged from the fog of our present, where machines and meaning rub shoulders. Through its curious protagonist, I found myself asking uncomfortable questions about humanity, purpose, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of it all.
And now, 'When Tethers Fray'—a story born of hospice rooms and unspoken pain, where endings are beginnings in disguise. This is, perhaps, the most personal of all, not because it reflects my life, but because it demanded more honesty, more silence, and more surrender than anything that came before.
Different genres. Different voices. But one continuous search—for clarity, for connection, for the thread that runs through it all.
If writing has taught me anything, it's this: every character, every chapter, every flawed sentence is part of my journey. A way to observe. A way to grow. A way to love.
Thank you to everyone who has read, supported, challenged, or simply walked alongside me through these pages. The journey continues, but today, I pause to breathe.
And turn the page.
A decade ago, I set out with 'Brahmahatya', a quiet, contemplative tale that explored guilt, grief, and redemption. Little did I know then that it was the beginning of a long and winding journey through genres, ideas, and—most importantly—myself.
Next came 'The Panchatheertha Part I', a bold, genre-defying leap into allegory and myth, where fable and philosophy met at uncertain crossroads. It was both a departure and a homecoming—a recognition that stories don't have to stay within fences.
Then 'The AI Who Questioned Everything' arrived, a novel that emerged from the fog of our present, where machines and meaning rub shoulders. Through its curious protagonist, I found myself asking uncomfortable questions about humanity, purpose, and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of it all.
And now, 'When Tethers Fray'—a story born of hospice rooms and unspoken pain, where endings are beginnings in disguise. This is, perhaps, the most personal of all, not because it reflects my life, but because it demanded more honesty, more silence, and more surrender than anything that came before.
Different genres. Different voices. But one continuous search—for clarity, for connection, for the thread that runs through it all.
If writing has taught me anything, it's this: every character, every chapter, every flawed sentence is part of my journey. A way to observe. A way to grow. A way to love.
Thank you to everyone who has read, supported, challenged, or simply walked alongside me through these pages. The journey continues, but today, I pause to breathe.
And turn the page.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 1, 2025
Reedsy Discovery review:
Must read 🏆
A classic work of literary fiction that will compel you to reconsider everything you thought you knew about life, death, and your identity.
By writing When Tethers Fray, Rajiv Mittal has not crafted a traditional novel. Like all true masters of literary fiction, Rajiv has withdrawn from traditional storytelling, prioritizing plot, to take a deep dive into an exploration of the human condition. Crafting a richly layered collection of stories about the choices we make and the burdens we carry, Rajiv’s When Tethers Fray examines the roles we assign ourselves and the origins of our beliefs and habits. As his characters wrestle with death, they expose their fractured relationships. They question the choices they made. They confront the image they have created of themselves. And they force us to confront our own.
Rajiv’s protagonist, Uma, is the head of nursing in a hospice. At work, she strives to provide comfort to the dying. At home, she sketches and tries to make sense of her world. “We all do it, don’t we?” she says, “take fragments from other people’s lives and piece them together, hoping they’ll reveal something about our own.” Uma is not a character you fall in love with and cheer for. Rather, she is one who disturbs you, and steals your comfort. As Uma strives to make sense of her life and her world, she challenges us to strive to make sense of our own.
Rajiv Mittal is both a philosopher and a wordsmith. He paints vivid pictures with his words, but he also tears at the heartstrings and demands reflection. He pushes at the boundaries of our reality, forcing us to question our core values and our deepest beliefs about life, relationships, and the ultimate ending that we must all eventually face. He challenges our understanding of our own identity and that of those who surround us.
When Tethers Fray is not a book you read for momentary pleasure. You cannot devour it quickly. Parts of it are hard to read. Parts will tire you, and yet you want to linger over the wisdom in the words. Rajiv Mittal’s words demand deep contemplation. The various stories he tells challenge you. Some may shock you. Some may leave you protesting loudly that life should not be this way--that people should not be this way. And yet you know they are. You know that children abandon parents and parents fail children and husbands betray wives and wives test husbands. You know that love does not conquer all, and that, ultimately, death prevails over strength and control, even for the strongest and the most determined. You may understand duty, or you may deny it. Like Uma, you may see duty as a burden. Yet you know that, for some, duty is all there is. Whatever wisdom you take from Rajiv’s words… whatever questions it leaves you asking and whatever insights you find in these tales of dying, one thing is certain: This is a novel that will leave its mark. Read it, and you will never think or feel the same again. Surely that qualifies it to hold a place among the works of the great masters? If you appreciate the finest works of literary fiction, this is a book you should read. It’s one I will keep to read again, for a single reading cannot do justice to a work of such depth and purpose.
Reviewed by
Lorraine Cobcroft
Must read 🏆
A classic work of literary fiction that will compel you to reconsider everything you thought you knew about life, death, and your identity.
By writing When Tethers Fray, Rajiv Mittal has not crafted a traditional novel. Like all true masters of literary fiction, Rajiv has withdrawn from traditional storytelling, prioritizing plot, to take a deep dive into an exploration of the human condition. Crafting a richly layered collection of stories about the choices we make and the burdens we carry, Rajiv’s When Tethers Fray examines the roles we assign ourselves and the origins of our beliefs and habits. As his characters wrestle with death, they expose their fractured relationships. They question the choices they made. They confront the image they have created of themselves. And they force us to confront our own.
Rajiv’s protagonist, Uma, is the head of nursing in a hospice. At work, she strives to provide comfort to the dying. At home, she sketches and tries to make sense of her world. “We all do it, don’t we?” she says, “take fragments from other people’s lives and piece them together, hoping they’ll reveal something about our own.” Uma is not a character you fall in love with and cheer for. Rather, she is one who disturbs you, and steals your comfort. As Uma strives to make sense of her life and her world, she challenges us to strive to make sense of our own.
Rajiv Mittal is both a philosopher and a wordsmith. He paints vivid pictures with his words, but he also tears at the heartstrings and demands reflection. He pushes at the boundaries of our reality, forcing us to question our core values and our deepest beliefs about life, relationships, and the ultimate ending that we must all eventually face. He challenges our understanding of our own identity and that of those who surround us.
When Tethers Fray is not a book you read for momentary pleasure. You cannot devour it quickly. Parts of it are hard to read. Parts will tire you, and yet you want to linger over the wisdom in the words. Rajiv Mittal’s words demand deep contemplation. The various stories he tells challenge you. Some may shock you. Some may leave you protesting loudly that life should not be this way--that people should not be this way. And yet you know they are. You know that children abandon parents and parents fail children and husbands betray wives and wives test husbands. You know that love does not conquer all, and that, ultimately, death prevails over strength and control, even for the strongest and the most determined. You may understand duty, or you may deny it. Like Uma, you may see duty as a burden. Yet you know that, for some, duty is all there is. Whatever wisdom you take from Rajiv’s words… whatever questions it leaves you asking and whatever insights you find in these tales of dying, one thing is certain: This is a novel that will leave its mark. Read it, and you will never think or feel the same again. Surely that qualifies it to hold a place among the works of the great masters? If you appreciate the finest works of literary fiction, this is a book you should read. It’s one I will keep to read again, for a single reading cannot do justice to a work of such depth and purpose.
Reviewed by
Lorraine Cobcroft
August 20, 2025
Rajiv Mittal’s beautiful novel When Tethers Fray is a work of fiction primarily set within a hospice facility. The novel is written predominantly from the perspective of Uma, a hospice nurse, who, throughout the novel, compassionately cares for and meets the final needs of hospice patients.
As Uma navigates her patients’ rooms, she journeys through each patient’s individual requests and medical needs, giving each their dignity with grace and care. Every person whom she guides and cares for up to their final moment has an individual story to tell that Uma reads and absorbs with a sincere and gentle respect.
Laced within the novel, though, are corporate concerns about money, about streamlining services to foster cost efficiency, which angers and frustrates Uma. To devolve the patients to faceless, clerical numbers is to void their humanity. And so, she struggles with understanding, respecting, and accepting Mohan, the hospice facility’s accountant, who, Uma believes, is only concerned with numbers.
Here, Mittal plays with perspective, and Uma goes on an existential journey to reflect on Mohan’s upbringing by traditional Indian parents surrounded by traditional expectations and societal norms. Uma appreciates the importance of recognizing the entire person, seeing the whole human being instead of just the surface numbers, the human binary code.
The novel is an intricate web of vignettes augmented by illustrations and visual designs that reflect the shifting characters and Uma’s developing perspectives. Mittal incorporates images that reflect Uma’s layered emotions for her patients, her initial frustrations for Mohan, and how death is an interlacing rite of passage that unites all of humanity. The reader’s visual journey through the novel is enriched by the images that invite introspection and meditation.
Rich with layered meaning and themes that are more than just the simplicity of life and death, Mittal’s writing and storytelling invite readers to consider the importance of perspective, of how we see others, and how we relate to one another. Readers who love introspective, emotional journeys that transcend cultures and societal norms, similar to novels like Dani Shapiro’s Signal Fires, will love Rajiv Mittal’s When Tethers Fray. Don’t forget the tissues.
As Uma navigates her patients’ rooms, she journeys through each patient’s individual requests and medical needs, giving each their dignity with grace and care. Every person whom she guides and cares for up to their final moment has an individual story to tell that Uma reads and absorbs with a sincere and gentle respect.
Laced within the novel, though, are corporate concerns about money, about streamlining services to foster cost efficiency, which angers and frustrates Uma. To devolve the patients to faceless, clerical numbers is to void their humanity. And so, she struggles with understanding, respecting, and accepting Mohan, the hospice facility’s accountant, who, Uma believes, is only concerned with numbers.
Here, Mittal plays with perspective, and Uma goes on an existential journey to reflect on Mohan’s upbringing by traditional Indian parents surrounded by traditional expectations and societal norms. Uma appreciates the importance of recognizing the entire person, seeing the whole human being instead of just the surface numbers, the human binary code.
The novel is an intricate web of vignettes augmented by illustrations and visual designs that reflect the shifting characters and Uma’s developing perspectives. Mittal incorporates images that reflect Uma’s layered emotions for her patients, her initial frustrations for Mohan, and how death is an interlacing rite of passage that unites all of humanity. The reader’s visual journey through the novel is enriched by the images that invite introspection and meditation.
Rich with layered meaning and themes that are more than just the simplicity of life and death, Mittal’s writing and storytelling invite readers to consider the importance of perspective, of how we see others, and how we relate to one another. Readers who love introspective, emotional journeys that transcend cultures and societal norms, similar to novels like Dani Shapiro’s Signal Fires, will love Rajiv Mittal’s When Tethers Fray. Don’t forget the tissues.
June 9, 2025
When Tethers Fray" is not just a novel—it is a meditation. Poignant, contemplative, and unflinchingly honest, it draws readers into the quiet emotional terrain of life’s most inevitable moment: its end. But in this remarkable work, mortality is not portrayed with dread or finality; rather, it becomes a lens through which every choice, every tether, every word left unsaid is thrown into sharp, luminous relief.
At the heart of the novel is Uma, the head nurse of a hospice, a woman of profound inner life and outward gentleness. For years, she has served as a witness to death, and more importantly, to the stories that come just before it. She listens with an artist’s attention, she sketches with the care of someone trying to remember, and she writes not for fame or catharsis, but for preservation—for clarity. Her days unfold among those who are slipping away, and in their vulnerability, she often finds mirrored glimpses of her own unspoken fears, desires, and hesitations.
Parallel to Uma is Mohan, the hospice’s meticulous accountant. Bound by logic, structure, and precision, he represents the other end of the spectrum—the world of duty as discipline, life as ledger. But the brilliance of When Tethers Fray lies in its refusal to vilify or idealize either perspective. Mohan, despite his rigidity, is not heartless. He is simply another human trying to navigate the weight of expectations—familial, societal, and professional. His sense of self-worth is deeply intertwined with being needed, being correct, being in control. And yet, the slow unraveling of his certainties becomes one of the book’s most moving arcs.
When Tethers Fray is one of those rare books that leaves a deep, lingering presence. It does not shout its brilliance; it whispers it.It's a novel that teaches you to listen—not just to others, but to the unspoken longings within yourself.
At the heart of the novel is Uma, the head nurse of a hospice, a woman of profound inner life and outward gentleness. For years, she has served as a witness to death, and more importantly, to the stories that come just before it. She listens with an artist’s attention, she sketches with the care of someone trying to remember, and she writes not for fame or catharsis, but for preservation—for clarity. Her days unfold among those who are slipping away, and in their vulnerability, she often finds mirrored glimpses of her own unspoken fears, desires, and hesitations.
Parallel to Uma is Mohan, the hospice’s meticulous accountant. Bound by logic, structure, and precision, he represents the other end of the spectrum—the world of duty as discipline, life as ledger. But the brilliance of When Tethers Fray lies in its refusal to vilify or idealize either perspective. Mohan, despite his rigidity, is not heartless. He is simply another human trying to navigate the weight of expectations—familial, societal, and professional. His sense of self-worth is deeply intertwined with being needed, being correct, being in control. And yet, the slow unraveling of his certainties becomes one of the book’s most moving arcs.
When Tethers Fray is one of those rare books that leaves a deep, lingering presence. It does not shout its brilliance; it whispers it.It's a novel that teaches you to listen—not just to others, but to the unspoken longings within yourself.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews