The Five Wounds · Book One
Clean Hands
A surgeon with an unbroken record and a locked room.
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Dev Mehra has four hundred surgeries behind him and not one death, and the steel frame in the hospital lobby says so. What it does not say is how the record was built: by never touching a patient he might lose. Across the river, in a worn hospital with a wall of photographs, another surgeon has been taking the ones Dev sends away. When a schoolteacher collapses in her classroom and her name reaches both hospitals on the same afternoon, twenty years of arrangement begin to come apart, one transfer form at a time.
PaperbackWalnut Publication156 pagesOut now: 18 September 2026Buy on AmazonBuy on FlipkartISBN 978-93-6926-307-3
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The trailer for Clean Hands
100 seconds, 4K, with sound.
From the novel
An extract from Clean Hands
He had washed his hands eleven thousand times in his life and could not remember one of them, the way a priest cannot remember his prayers, and that is how you know the prayers have worked.
Read Chapter One in full, free Chapters One and Two are free on the site; after that, 19 rupees a chapter.
Who you will meet
Characters in Clean Hands
Every one of them is carrying something.
Dev Mehra
The cleanest surgeon in the country.
In Clean Hands, Peacetime, The Third Woman
“Do not carry it alone.”Clean Hands
Sudha
Schoolteacher. Drinks her tea standing up.
In Clean Hands, All the Summers at Once
“Mark my words, this boy will surprise everyone one day.”Clean Hands
Ira
Army nurse. Never speaks of her mother.
In Clean Hands, Peacetime, The Third Woman
“She could run any disaster on earth.”Clean Hands
Dr Khanna
The surgeon across the river.
In Clean Hands, All the Summers at Once
“That one still remembers where the six o’clock queue begins.”Said of him, Clean Hands
Umpire Baba
Four thousand decisions. One raised finger.
In Clean Hands, The House of Auspicious Hours, Dead Letter
“Karn also reached the wrong address by river, postman.”Clean Hands
Prem Babu
Postmaster for forty years. Two cups at five.
In Clean Hands, All the Summers at Once, Dead Letter
“I ran a post office for 40 years, Sudha.”Clean Hands
Kamla
The first name in the register.
In Peacetime, Clean Hands
“I have never dropped anything I decided to carry.”Peacetime
Raghunath
The dispensary doctor. Seat 23.
In Clean Hands, Peacetime, The Third Woman
“Accounts never balance. They only continue.”Peacetime
Ashu
A fixer with no surname.
In Clean Hands, All the Summers at Once, The House of Auspicious Hours, Dead Letter
“Say that again slowly, and I will tell you which part of it is true.”Dead Letter
Nandita
She kept the accounts.
In Clean Hands, The Third Woman
“There is a person in every family who is told last.”The Third Woman
Moments
Scenes from Clean Hands
Two hospitals
One river, two hospitals. Marble and glass on one bank. On the other, a wall of photographs.
Seat 23
An old doctor on a village bus, a green pen at his lips and a ticket in his hand.
Khanna’s wall
The surgeon across the river remembers every face he saved, and walks past them every morning.
Which hand first
The cleanest hands in the country, stopped under the tap by a question nobody taught him to ask.
The hand pump
Father, son and mother at the water. The grace the whole book walks toward.
Three things kept
Objects in Clean Hands
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The book
Clean Hands: publishing details
- Title
- The Five Wounds (Vol 1): Clean Hands
- Series
- The Five Wounds, Book One of five
- Author
- Manu Vishranti (the pen name of Manav Sharma)
- Publisher
- Walnut Publication
- Format
- Paperback, 5.5 x 8.5 in, 156 pages
- List price
- 324 rupees
- ISBN
- 978-93-6926-307-3
- Language
- English
- Published
- 18 September 2026
- Buy
- On Amazon, on Flipkart and from Walnut Publication
Behind the book
Notes on Clean Hands
Short, sourced notes on the real things the book is built from.
Questions readers ask
Questions about Clean Hands
What is Clean Hands about?
Book One of The Five Wounds by Manu Vishranti. A surgeon with an unbroken record and a locked room. Dev Mehra has four hundred surgeries behind him and not one death, and the steel frame in the hospital lobby says so. What it does not say is how the record was built: by never touching a patient he might lose. Across the river, in a worn hospital with a wall of photographs, another surgeon has been taking the ones Dev sends away. When a schoolteacher collapses in her classroom and her name reaches both hospitals on the same afternoon, twenty years of arrangement begin to come apart, one transfer form at a time.
Where does Clean Hands come in The Five Wounds?
Clean Hands is Book One of the five novels in The Five Wounds by Manu Vishranti. It is the first of five, followed by Peacetime.
What is the ISBN of Clean Hands?
The paperback from Walnut Publication, registered as The Five Wounds (Vol 1): Clean Hands, has ISBN 978-93-6926-307-3.
How long is Clean Hands, and what does it cost?
Clean Hands is a 156 page paperback, 5.5 by 8.5 inches, with a list price of 324 rupees from Walnut Publication.
Who wrote Clean Hands?
Manu Vishranti, the pen name of Manav Sharma. Clean Hands is part of The Five Wounds, his first published work of fiction.
Is this the only book called Clean Hands?
Other books share the title. This Clean Hands is Book One of The Five Wounds by Manu Vishranti, published in paperback by Walnut Publication in September 2026, ISBN 978-93-6926-307-3. It is the one with Dev Mehra: the cleanest surgeon in the country.
When was Clean Hands published, and where can I buy it?
Walnut Publication published it on 18 September 2026, in paperback, with the rest of The Five Wounds. It is on sale now on Amazon and Flipkart, and it can be read on this site straight away.
Can I read Clean Hands online?
Yes. Chapters One and Two are free on manuvishranti.com, with no sign-up. After that each chapter is 19 rupees, or the whole book is 149 rupees (launch offer; regular price 239), paid once by UPI. It opens straight away, so there is no wait for delivery.