An unusual, yet fruitful, cross-cultural collaboration

The best selling novel Rivers Run Back is a work of collaboration by two authors: Joyce Yarrow of Seattle and Arindam Roy of Allahabad. It is set in India, Dubai and North America and is a tale of love, crime, and intertwined destinies. The novel is unique in that it starts out as a family saga and builds to a thrilling climax 40 years later. 

Joyce Yarrow is the author of several books and is a Pushcart Nominee for her short stories. Arindam Roy’s career in journalism spans 30 years. As a reporter and bureau chief, he has written extensively for many prestigious news outlets. He has also co-authored a couple of books on the Kumbh Mela. 

Yarrow grew up in the Southeast Bronx, in a rough neighbourhood which had the highest crime rate in New York City. But her local library served as a refuge from the perilous streets. Books miraculously opened a window to the outside world. Through her writing she explored both the creative and destructive aspects of big city life. 

It is a sign of our times that the authors managed this long-distance collaboration over three years after they met on Facebook. Yarrow explains, “He is a veteran journalist with a global outlook, as well as strong roots in Bengali culture. My own roots are scattered, inspiring me at an early age to create my own reality through fiction. We knew right away that by blending our worldviews we could generate a powerful story.” There were many setbacks, the main being the sudden demise of Roy’s wife, but the authors soldiered through such tough times and the result is a bestselling crime thriller.

Roy says, “I feel any collaboration is a win-win situation. If we can pool in our strengths and give our best to the work, it’s bound to emerge a winner. As a journalist, I trusted validated facts. I learned whatever I lacked from Joyce. The last part was a whole lot.” In reply, Yarrow says, “His high standards for realism in both character and story provided the touchstone we needed.” But virtual collaboration definitely has its limits. At some point both needed to meet and so their in-person story conferences, held in Allahabad, were invaluable. Yarrow has visited India often and her fondest memory is the sunrise over the Ganges in Varanasi and the feeling of peace that calmed her restless soul and made her feel that she had truly arrived in India. Yarrow’s and Roy’s writing partnership was also contentious at times. Roy’s commitment to newsroom accuracy made him resistant to the flights of fancy required by fiction. On the other hand, his years as a journalist gave him insight into the criminal mind.”

The American and Canadian characters are interwoven with their Indian counterparts in such a way that their relationships make the book work.  There are huge differences between the Eastern and Western philosophies of life, for example the differing concepts of good and evil but by exploring these differences the authors also discovered many commonalities. In the end, it is the authors’ shared humanity that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.

The author is a writer