The Five Wounds by Manu Vishranti
One family, thirty years, and the small arrangements that hold a house together until somebody asks what they cost.
Contents
- Book OneClean HandsA surgeon with an unbroken record and a locked room.
- Book TwoPeacetimeA woman who counted a whole town and left one line in a register.
- Book ThreeAll the Summers at OnceA postmaster carrying the letter he chose not to deliver.
- Book FourThe House of Auspicious HoursA family that buys its life in sanctioned hours.
- Book FiveDead LetterA man with no surname, looking for the word that is his.
- CompanionThe Third WomanAnd the wife who was told last, who wrote all of it down.
The books
Five novels and a companion volume. One family, thirty years, and the small arrangements that hold a house together until somebody asks what they cost.
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MANU VISHRANTI
The cast
Seventeen people across sixty years, one register and one river, met book by book. Nothing here gives away more than the back of each book does.
Book OneClean Hands
A surgeon with an unbroken record and a locked room.
- Dev MehraThe cleanest surgeon in the country. In Clean Hands, Peacetime and The Third Woman.
Do not carry it alone.
- SudhaSchoolteacher. Drinks her tea standing up. In Clean Hands and All the Summers at Once.
Mark my words, this boy will surprise everyone one day.
- IraArmy nurse. Never speaks of her mother. In Clean Hands, Peacetime and The Third Woman.
She could run any disaster on earth.
- Dr KhannaThe surgeon across the river. In Clean Hands and All the Summers at Once.
- Umpire BabaFour thousand decisions. One raised finger. In Clean Hands, The House of Auspicious Hours and Dead Letter.
Karn also reached the wrong address by river, postman.
Book TwoPeacetime
A woman who counted a whole town and left one line in a register.
- KamlaThe first name in the register. In Clean Hands and Peacetime.
I have never dropped anything I decided to carry.
- RaghunathThe dispensary doctor. Seat 23. In Clean Hands, Peacetime and The Third Woman.
Accounts never balance. They only continue.
Book ThreeAll the Summers at Once
A postmaster carrying the letter he chose not to deliver.
- Prem BabuPostmaster for forty years. Two cups at five. In Clean Hands, All the Summers at Once and Dead Letter.
I ran a post office for 40 years, Sudha.
Book FourThe House of Auspicious Hours
A family that buys its life in sanctioned hours.
- DivyaShe sees what others cannot. In All the Summers at Once, The House of Auspicious Hours and Dead Letter.
Did you read it, or did you make it up?
- Shanti DadiShe rules the house, and the calendar. In The House of Auspicious Hours.
Monday. Nobody wash their hair.
- Kishori LalThe pandit who reads the sky without seeing it. In The House of Auspicious Hours.
My hearing has always been better than my eyes.
- MyraFourteen. Phone face down. In The House of Auspicious Hours.
Everybody is somebody’s seventh house for two hours a day.
- AditFour sheets in the second drawer. In The House of Auspicious Hours and Dead Letter.
It was not in the book.
Book FiveDead Letter
A man with no surname, looking for the word that is his.
- ChandulalNinety-two. A window in Rajkot. In Dead Letter.
- NalinA man in Ahmedabad who knows the whole story. In Dead Letter.
A receipt is a thing you take when you have paid.
- AshuA fixer with no surname. In Clean Hands, All the Summers at Once, The House of Auspicious Hours and Dead Letter.
Say that again slowly, and I will tell you which part of it is true.
The companion volumeThe Third Woman
And the wife who was told last, who wrote all of it down.
- NanditaShe kept the accounts. In Clean Hands and The Third Woman.
There is a person in every family who is told last.
Every one of them is carrying something.
Five books and a diary. One family, sixty years, and the river that runs through all of it.
Trailer
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The Five Wounds
Questions readers ask
What is The Five Wounds about?
The Five Wounds is a series of literary novels in English by Manu Vishranti: five novels and a companion volume about one Indian family, and the small arrangements that hold a house together until somebody asks what they cost. Each book stands on one person and one wound. In Clean Hands, the surgeon Dev Mehra has four hundred surgeries behind him and not one death, a record built by never touching a patient he might lose. Peacetime is Kamla, a woman who counted a whole town and left one line in a register. In All the Summers at Once, Prem Babu, a postmaster for forty years, sets out to find the child a letter he never delivered was meant for. The House of Auspicious Hours is the Malhotra family, who have bought their whole lives in the sanctioned hours of one family almanac. In Dead Letter, Ashu, a fixer with no surname, receives five letters posted before his uncle died. The companion volume, The Third Woman, is the diary of Nandita Mehra, the wife who was told last.
Who are the main characters in The Five Wounds?
Seventeen people, all of them fictional, carried from book to book: Dev Mehra, the surgeon with an unbroken record; Nandita, who keeps the accounts; Ira, an army nurse; Kamla, the first name in the register; Raghunath, the dispensary doctor; Sudha, a schoolteacher; Prem Babu, a postmaster for forty years; Ashu, a fixer with no surname; Divya, who sees what others cannot; Dr Khanna, the surgeon across the river; Umpire Baba; Shanti Dadi, who rules the Malhotra house and its calendar; Adit; Myra, who is fourteen; Kishori Lal, the family pandit; Chandulal; and Nalin.
Where are the books set?
In north and west India. Clean Hands is set in Delhi and Ghaziabad, on the two banks of one river. Peacetime goes back to a small north Indian town, from 1969. The House of Auspicious Hours is set in the Malhotra house in Chandigarh. Dead Letter reaches Ahmedabad and Rajkot, in Gujarat.
What kind of books are they?
Literary fiction in English, and together an Indian family saga. Each novel takes its own form: Clean Hands is a hospital drama, Peacetime a small town chronicle across the decades, All the Summers at Once a story of grief and one last search, The House of Auspicious Hours a family drama about fate and the almanac, and Dead Letter a thriller. The Third Woman is a diary.
What are the books, in order?
Book One, Clean Hands. Book Two, Peacetime. Book Three, All the Summers at Once. Book Four, The House of Auspicious Hours. Book Five, Dead Letter. And a companion volume, The Third Woman: The Diary of Nandita Mehra. The reading order, and who is in which book.
Is The Third Woman a sixth novel?
No. It is a companion volume: the diary of Nandita Mehra, which crosses all five novels from a seat nobody thought to look at.
When and by whom is it published?
Walnut Publication published The Five Wounds on 18 September 2026, and it is out now in paperback on Amazon and Flipkart. There is also a complete edition with the whole series in one.
Who wrote The Five Wounds?
Manu Vishranti, the pen name of Manav Sharma, a creator, meditator, writer and researcher who works in English and in Hindi. The Five Wounds is his first published work of fiction.
Are the characters real people?
No. Every character in these books is fictional, and every face drawn on this site is invented.
What are the ISBNs of The Five Wounds?
The paperbacks from Walnut Publication: The Five Wounds (Vol 1): Clean Hands, ISBN 978-93-6926-307-3; The Five Wounds (Vol 2): Peacetime, ISBN 978-93-6926-308-0; The Five Wounds (Vol 3): All the Summers at Once, ISBN 978-93-6926-310-3; The Five Wounds (Vol 4): The House of Auspicious Hours, ISBN 978-93-6926-311-0; The Five Wounds (Vol 5): Dead Letter, ISBN 978-93-6926-312-7; The Five Wounds (A Companion Vol): The Third Woman: The Diary of Nandita Mehra, ISBN 978-93-6926-314-1. The complete edition, The Five Wounds, is ISBN 978-93-6926-306-6.
How long are the books, and what do they cost?
Each is a paperback, 5.5 by 8.5 inches. Clean Hands, 156 pages, 324 rupees; Peacetime, 205 pages, 361 rupees; All the Summers at Once, 170 pages, 336 rupees; The House of Auspicious Hours, 328 pages, 526 rupees; Dead Letter, 389 pages, 583 rupees; The Third Woman, 143 pages, 309 rupees, at Walnut Publication's list prices. The complete edition, all six books as one set, is 1391 pages at 2299 rupees. They are sold on Amazon, on Flipkart and in the publisher's own store.
Can I read The Five Wounds online?
Yes, every book, on this site, with no waiting for delivery. The first two chapters of each novel (and the opening of the diary) are free, with no sign-up. After that a chapter is 19 rupees, or a whole book is from 139 to 259 rupees at the launch offer, paid once by UPI, and it opens straight away on your phone or laptop.
Is The Five Wounds a single novel?
No. The Five Wounds by Manu Vishranti is a series of six volumes: five novels, Clean Hands, Peacetime, All the Summers at Once, The House of Auspicious Hours and Dead Letter, and a companion volume, The Third Woman: The Diary of Nandita Mehra. It follows one Indian family, and was published by Walnut Publication on 18 September 2026, as six books and as one complete edition.
Behind the books
Notes on The Five Wounds
Short, sourced notes on the real things the books are built from.
- Dead letters, and India PostA dead letter is post that can be neither delivered nor returned.
- Muhurat, the auspicious hourA muhurat is forty eight minutes and a chosen good time.
- Bahi khata, the red account bookThe bahi khata is India's red, cloth bound account book: how it is made, why it is red, what goes on its first page, and why it is renewed at Diwali.
- The village hand pumpThe India Mark II hand pump was designed in India in the 1970s after a great drought.
About the author
Manu Vishranti
A school register, a ten rupee note, a question asked every Sunday for twenty four years.
Manu Vishranti writes about the small objects a family uses to carry what it cannot say aloud. He works in English and in Hindi, building each version from the ground up rather than translating, on the understanding that a language is a way of noticing and not a set of equivalents. He also writes on meditation. The Five Wounds, five novels and one companion volume, is his first published work of fiction.
More of his work at manuvishranti.com