What do you think?
Rate this book
Where the Cobbled Path Leads
Where the Cobbled Path Leads is a folk fantasy novel, interweaving fantasy fiction with Naga spirit stories and folklore.
Eleven-year-old Vime is struggling to come to terms with the demise of her beloved mother. She has a special place she frequents-a cobbled footpath near her house which leads to a forest. On the day of her mother's death anniversary, not wanting to return home, Vime follows the cobbled footpath all the way to the deep end of the woods and discovers that the trail leads to a magnificent tree. She falls asleep under it only to wake up and find that the footpath has disappeared. Tei, a forest spirit, helps her relocate the missing pathway.
Vime is soon to discover that this tree is no ordinary tree. It is a portal between the human and spirit world, and Vime keeps finding her way back to it. Distressed that her father might remarry, she decides to leave her earthly life and join her mother in the spiritual world. As she travels to, from and through these realms, she understands what it is to embrace and survive grief, and what it means to surrender herself to these old spirits, not all of whom are good.
Eleven-year-old Vime is struggling to come to terms with the demise of her beloved mother. She has a special place she frequents-a cobbled footpath near her house which leads to a forest. On the day of her mother's death anniversary, not wanting to return home, Vime follows the cobbled footpath all the way to the deep end of the woods and discovers that the trail leads to a magnificent tree. She falls asleep under it only to wake up and find that the footpath has disappeared. Tei, a forest spirit, helps her relocate the missing pathway.
Vime is soon to discover that this tree is no ordinary tree. It is a portal between the human and spirit world, and Vime keeps finding her way back to it. Distressed that her father might remarry, she decides to leave her earthly life and join her mother in the spiritual world. As she travels to, from and through these realms, she understands what it is to embrace and survive grief, and what it means to surrender herself to these old spirits, not all of whom are good.
- GenresFiction
184 pages, Hardcover
Published November 8, 2022
9 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Avinuo Kire
5 books5 followersAvinuo Kire lives in Kohima and works at the State Resource Centre for Women, under the Government of Nagaland.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 28, 2022
4.5 stars
Where The Cobbled Path Leads by Avinuo Kire, a writer and teacher from Kohima, Nagaland. As magical and beautiful the cover of this book is, the words inside are even more lyrical, mystical and beautiful.
I went blank into this book, it was a pure cover buy for me and I knew I had to read this book. You know some books just by looking call for you? It was just that kinda call and reading for me. The book is based on Naga spirit, stories and folkore.
The main character, Vime is everything I would ask for in a book's MC and also some of her qualities if inculcated in me, would be great 😂 The story starts with the sad demise of her beloved mother and the entire family is struggling to come to terms with this.
Cobbled footpath, is where she usually visits and Vime soon discovers that the tree over there is no ordinary tree but a portal between the human and spirit world. Focused between the fantasy world and spirits, we also get to see how Vime learns to overcome her thoughts and learn to live with people and family around her.
We get to see how her father is getting married once again, Vime's friends and her new step mother who at the end of the book she goes and saves from different realms. Tei, the tree spirit whom she should not be trusting anymore because not all spirits are good ones.
I highly recommend everyone to pick up this book if you are looking for a very different yet beautiful read. The writing style is just flawless and the book flew by in one sitting for me.
Where The Cobbled Path Leads by Avinuo Kire, a writer and teacher from Kohima, Nagaland. As magical and beautiful the cover of this book is, the words inside are even more lyrical, mystical and beautiful.
I went blank into this book, it was a pure cover buy for me and I knew I had to read this book. You know some books just by looking call for you? It was just that kinda call and reading for me. The book is based on Naga spirit, stories and folkore.
The main character, Vime is everything I would ask for in a book's MC and also some of her qualities if inculcated in me, would be great 😂 The story starts with the sad demise of her beloved mother and the entire family is struggling to come to terms with this.
Cobbled footpath, is where she usually visits and Vime soon discovers that the tree over there is no ordinary tree but a portal between the human and spirit world. Focused between the fantasy world and spirits, we also get to see how Vime learns to overcome her thoughts and learn to live with people and family around her.
We get to see how her father is getting married once again, Vime's friends and her new step mother who at the end of the book she goes and saves from different realms. Tei, the tree spirit whom she should not be trusting anymore because not all spirits are good ones.
I highly recommend everyone to pick up this book if you are looking for a very different yet beautiful read. The writing style is just flawless and the book flew by in one sitting for me.
July 18, 2022
Review will be added as soon as the full length review is published.
But yes, this is a book that touches on some familiar themes and elements in literary fiction writing from Nagaland: oral history and traditions, the old belief systems in sprits dwelling in animals, human and nature, the shift from an old culture to Christianity.
Yet, the author brings all familiar elements into a narrative that is evocative.
Happy to have read an advance copy :)
But yes, this is a book that touches on some familiar themes and elements in literary fiction writing from Nagaland: oral history and traditions, the old belief systems in sprits dwelling in animals, human and nature, the shift from an old culture to Christianity.
Yet, the author brings all familiar elements into a narrative that is evocative.
Happy to have read an advance copy :)
August 26, 2022
Heroines come in different shapes and sizes. Some stand up to tyrants; some slay dragons. Some save worlds, and some change lives. Others have to haul themselves up by their bootstraps and forge a way forward through grief and pain.
Vime, the heroine of Avinuo Kire’s Where the Cobbled Path Leads, is one of the latter. A pre-pubescent schoolgirl, Vime is battling the misery of her mother’s death a year earlier. Vime’s elder sister Neime and their father seem to be settling in better. Neime is busy keeping house and starting college; their father is looking to remarry—but Vime, lonely, missing Mother, finds it increasingly difficult to adapt to a life without her.
Vime finds some solace in going down a secret path she knows: ‘… a crumbling cobbled mossed walkway, level ground playfully interlacing with stairs, minuscule wild daisies and cudweed on the grooves and edges, winding in, out, trailing further and further down into the deep woods.’ The cobbled path has been, for long, Vime’s happy place, and it becomes even more so after Mother’s death. Until, on the day of her mother’s first death anniversary, Vime meets someone strange and fascinating when she goes down the cobbled path.
What follows is an engrossing adventure, as Vime—in between trying to cope with mundane real life—catches a glimpse of an alternate world where perhaps her dearest wish may be granted. On the one hand, she must get used to living with Khrielie, her new step-mother, who is very young herself. On the other, she must find a way out of the trap into which she’s unwittingly fallen, as a result of her forays into a world that abuts her own.
Where the Cobbled Path Leads is an interesting book, not easy to slot. On a superficial level, it appears as a somewhat sophisticated children’s fantasy, an adventure that starts off on a high but goes out of control and becomes a race for one’s life. On a superficial level only; because there is more profundity here, deeper and more nuanced elements to the story. There is a bringing together of Naga folklore on the one hand, and modern life on the other. There is death, and there is life. There is the everyday routine of school and home, and there is the backdrop of socio-political tension as the insurgents of the Naga Army play a game of cat-and-mouse with the Indian government.
Through it all, there is a sense of equilibrium. A balance between quiet introspection and high-adrenaline adventure; between solitude and company. Myth and reality. Old and new, both in religion as well as other ways of life. Most importantly, between life and death. Death—of a much-loved parent, in Vime’s case—is seen here primarily through the prism of what it does to a bereaved offspring, but there are other insights into death scattered through the story. For instance, there is the grief of a young widow: a sorrow so deep that it imprisons the dead husband in a state of limbo. But the grief is balanced; even though intense, it is presented in a way that isn’t melodramatic—and eventually, through the realization that comes to Vime as a result of her adventures, there is a path forward, a way from death to life.
Kire paints a poignant picture of loss and bereavement, but also, eventually, one of hope and new beginnings. How Vime and Khrielie find a way to escape the doom that threatens them is a heartwarming metaphor for what life may offer as a solution for those of us who grieve. If there is a jarring note, it is the one regarding Khrielie herself. A girl, married off to a man who is perhaps old enough to be her father, is nothing new, either in fiction or in reality; but Kire leaves this unquestioned, Khrielie’s fate sadly decided for her.
(From my review for Open: The Magazine: https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/bo...)
Vime, the heroine of Avinuo Kire’s Where the Cobbled Path Leads, is one of the latter. A pre-pubescent schoolgirl, Vime is battling the misery of her mother’s death a year earlier. Vime’s elder sister Neime and their father seem to be settling in better. Neime is busy keeping house and starting college; their father is looking to remarry—but Vime, lonely, missing Mother, finds it increasingly difficult to adapt to a life without her.
Vime finds some solace in going down a secret path she knows: ‘… a crumbling cobbled mossed walkway, level ground playfully interlacing with stairs, minuscule wild daisies and cudweed on the grooves and edges, winding in, out, trailing further and further down into the deep woods.’ The cobbled path has been, for long, Vime’s happy place, and it becomes even more so after Mother’s death. Until, on the day of her mother’s first death anniversary, Vime meets someone strange and fascinating when she goes down the cobbled path.
What follows is an engrossing adventure, as Vime—in between trying to cope with mundane real life—catches a glimpse of an alternate world where perhaps her dearest wish may be granted. On the one hand, she must get used to living with Khrielie, her new step-mother, who is very young herself. On the other, she must find a way out of the trap into which she’s unwittingly fallen, as a result of her forays into a world that abuts her own.
Where the Cobbled Path Leads is an interesting book, not easy to slot. On a superficial level, it appears as a somewhat sophisticated children’s fantasy, an adventure that starts off on a high but goes out of control and becomes a race for one’s life. On a superficial level only; because there is more profundity here, deeper and more nuanced elements to the story. There is a bringing together of Naga folklore on the one hand, and modern life on the other. There is death, and there is life. There is the everyday routine of school and home, and there is the backdrop of socio-political tension as the insurgents of the Naga Army play a game of cat-and-mouse with the Indian government.
Through it all, there is a sense of equilibrium. A balance between quiet introspection and high-adrenaline adventure; between solitude and company. Myth and reality. Old and new, both in religion as well as other ways of life. Most importantly, between life and death. Death—of a much-loved parent, in Vime’s case—is seen here primarily through the prism of what it does to a bereaved offspring, but there are other insights into death scattered through the story. For instance, there is the grief of a young widow: a sorrow so deep that it imprisons the dead husband in a state of limbo. But the grief is balanced; even though intense, it is presented in a way that isn’t melodramatic—and eventually, through the realization that comes to Vime as a result of her adventures, there is a path forward, a way from death to life.
Kire paints a poignant picture of loss and bereavement, but also, eventually, one of hope and new beginnings. How Vime and Khrielie find a way to escape the doom that threatens them is a heartwarming metaphor for what life may offer as a solution for those of us who grieve. If there is a jarring note, it is the one regarding Khrielie herself. A girl, married off to a man who is perhaps old enough to be her father, is nothing new, either in fiction or in reality; but Kire leaves this unquestioned, Khrielie’s fate sadly decided for her.
(From my review for Open: The Magazine: https://openthemagazine.com/lounge/bo...)
March 14, 2023
I have a soft corner for stories of young girls venturing out on their own journeys. In the tenor of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, Alice In Wonderland, Le Petit Maman, this magical, nostalgic fantasy is ultimately about friendship and love - so this review is probably a tad bit biased.
You know those moments when you're almost asleep but not quite? And for a few seconds you forget that you're not a child in school, that childhood has passed you by. For a few moments you inhibit who you were, even though the reality feels hazy, like a soft-boiled dream - like "the slow and tentative reawakening of a beautiful childhood memory, once cherished, now forgotten." The first half of this book transports you to the bittersweet sadness that comes with accepting that your childhood is truly over, that even revisiting the old haunts in search of feeling like a child again is painful because it just causes you to accept reality all over again - the park swing is broken, the hall that seemed endless as you covered it in over a hundred steps is now relatively tiny.
The second half certainly picked up the pace and I was so invested in Vime's adventure. Loved how her arc was combined with folklore and fantasy, and also really loved the dynamic she shared with her elder sister.
Such a lyrical novel, and such poetic prose! Kire transports you to a field with soft blades of grass and scattered wildflowers while the cascading hills loom behind and a luminous moon hover above. Savoured every bit of it and now tempted to read more by Avinuo Kire!
You know those moments when you're almost asleep but not quite? And for a few seconds you forget that you're not a child in school, that childhood has passed you by. For a few moments you inhibit who you were, even though the reality feels hazy, like a soft-boiled dream - like "the slow and tentative reawakening of a beautiful childhood memory, once cherished, now forgotten." The first half of this book transports you to the bittersweet sadness that comes with accepting that your childhood is truly over, that even revisiting the old haunts in search of feeling like a child again is painful because it just causes you to accept reality all over again - the park swing is broken, the hall that seemed endless as you covered it in over a hundred steps is now relatively tiny.
The second half certainly picked up the pace and I was so invested in Vime's adventure. Loved how her arc was combined with folklore and fantasy, and also really loved the dynamic she shared with her elder sister.
Such a lyrical novel, and such poetic prose! Kire transports you to a field with soft blades of grass and scattered wildflowers while the cascading hills loom behind and a luminous moon hover above. Savoured every bit of it and now tempted to read more by Avinuo Kire!
November 18, 2022
The story follows the journey of the Vime, the protagonist, who became lonely after the demise of her mother. She often treaded on the cobbled path where her mother used to go while she was alive.
But one day, while walking on the path, she entered a forest and saw a magnificent tree. She slept under it only to wake up to an unfamiliar sight. She met Tei, a forest spirit, who took her to the land of the dead. Vime saw her mother there and wanted to live by her side but it was a trap laid by Tei.
Will Vime be able to escape Tei’s trickery?
I absolutely enjoyed reading the book. The story is a blend of fantasy fiction with Naga Spirit stories. The characters and the emotions felt so raw. Also I was fascinated by the cover of the book.
Overall it was a very enjoyable and a different read.
January 15, 2023
Avinuo Kire is one amongst the emerging Naga authors whose style of story telling is effortlessly sensational especially when it comes to blending fiction with folklore.
Spoiler: Don't mess with Spirits because as Charming as they can be, they can turn out to be an absolute menace.
Also I can't help being biased to little Vime when I can see myself in her. 😅
Spoiler: Don't mess with Spirits because as Charming as they can be, they can turn out to be an absolute menace.
Also I can't help being biased to little Vime when I can see myself in her. 😅
September 21, 2022
This is the story about a little girl Vime who recently lost her mother. She now lives with her elder sister and her father.
One day she discovers an old tree and a forest spirit, Tei, who befriends her. Meanwhile her father is about to be remarried.
She is dealing with grief and anger. And she lets Tei lead her to another dimension where she sees her mother. But she is pulled out of that world and she is desparate to go back into that world so she can see her mother again. But Tei doesn't seem so friendly anymore.
This book is heavy on the fantasy and on grief. The fantasy parts were interesting for the most part. Vime and her sister is dealing with the loss of their mother but also they are learning to move on. I liked Vime's relationship with her sister.
My only issue is that I did not like the second half. It was a short book but still it felt like the second half dragged on and on. I prefered the first half but I did enjoy the ending though where Vime learns to accept to move on.
Overall, it was a good book. It was refreshing to read about Naga spirit stories and folklore. I'd definitely recommend this one.
One day she discovers an old tree and a forest spirit, Tei, who befriends her. Meanwhile her father is about to be remarried.
She is dealing with grief and anger. And she lets Tei lead her to another dimension where she sees her mother. But she is pulled out of that world and she is desparate to go back into that world so she can see her mother again. But Tei doesn't seem so friendly anymore.
This book is heavy on the fantasy and on grief. The fantasy parts were interesting for the most part. Vime and her sister is dealing with the loss of their mother but also they are learning to move on. I liked Vime's relationship with her sister.
My only issue is that I did not like the second half. It was a short book but still it felt like the second half dragged on and on. I prefered the first half but I did enjoy the ending though where Vime learns to accept to move on.
Overall, it was a good book. It was refreshing to read about Naga spirit stories and folklore. I'd definitely recommend this one.
October 1, 2022
I already have a soft spot for Middle Grade magical adventures, and needless to say I've been bewitched by this book as well. The story is about 12 year old Neime going through grief even after a year of her mother's demise. She often finds herself going away from home, to escape her almost emotionally unavailable father and her nagging elder sister, to the cobbled paths leading to the forest that leads to a huge ancient tree.
In one such of her escapades, she meets Tei, a mischievous forest spirit. When Tei leads a curious Neime to the portal to a world where the spirits of the deceased lives, she gets a glimpse of her mother. Adamant to see her mother again, she strikes a notorious deal with Tei, entrapping not only her, but also her new step-mother Khrielie.
This book is a beautiful ode to maternal love. Also infusing Naga lore about the creation of universe, the book explores family, love and grief.
In one such of her escapades, she meets Tei, a mischievous forest spirit. When Tei leads a curious Neime to the portal to a world where the spirits of the deceased lives, she gets a glimpse of her mother. Adamant to see her mother again, she strikes a notorious deal with Tei, entrapping not only her, but also her new step-mother Khrielie.
This book is a beautiful ode to maternal love. Also infusing Naga lore about the creation of universe, the book explores family, love and grief.
October 14, 2022
The novel is an intertwine of folklore from Nagaland and the fantasies around the old spirits in the forest.
The main protagonist Vime is battling the loss of her mother and feels very difficult to adapt to life without her mother. Her father and sister Nemie are adjusting well by socializing and involving themselves in various activities whereas Vime is hesitant to even meet her closest friend. When she started loving the loneliness she found a secret cobbled path that leads to the forest and ends at the feet of an old giant tree. She befriends the old tree and a spirit, Tei. Tei then takes her to a dreamland where Vime meets her mother but could not make herself visible. She then makes it a regular habit to visit the forest which makes things very complicated. With the passage of each chapter, many folk stories and myths are explained throughout the book.
The main protagonist Vime is battling the loss of her mother and feels very difficult to adapt to life without her mother. Her father and sister Nemie are adjusting well by socializing and involving themselves in various activities whereas Vime is hesitant to even meet her closest friend. When she started loving the loneliness she found a secret cobbled path that leads to the forest and ends at the feet of an old giant tree. She befriends the old tree and a spirit, Tei. Tei then takes her to a dreamland where Vime meets her mother but could not make herself visible. She then makes it a regular habit to visit the forest which makes things very complicated. With the passage of each chapter, many folk stories and myths are explained throughout the book.
April 25, 2023
Apart from a very pretty cover, the book is generous in lyrical writing - weaving Naga folklore that's yet to make its big scene in the publishing space.
.
So glad to see different narratives coming to us and recommend this if you want a quick, light yet memorable read
.
So glad to see different narratives coming to us and recommend this if you want a quick, light yet memorable read
June 17, 2023
A fast-paced story of folk tales based on fantasy. Well-written. A book dealing with the Naga culture.
May 1, 2024
My first book by an author from Nagaland, and I'm fascinated by the mythologies.
Just read the book cover to cover and I'll let it stew a while before I write about it.
Just read the book cover to cover and I'll let it stew a while before I write about it.
Read
October 15, 2024⭐⭐⭐/5
"The lure of the memory realms has led many to waste away."
I'd say this particular quote sums up the entire story and teaches us to let go.
The prose was beautiful. I especially liked the moments between Vime and her mother. It was very dreamily described. Apart from that, the story is a quick-read fantasy. I didn't feel like there was much to take away from it except for the beautiful Naga traditions of India.
"The lure of the memory realms has led many to waste away."
I'd say this particular quote sums up the entire story and teaches us to let go.
The prose was beautiful. I especially liked the moments between Vime and her mother. It was very dreamily described. Apart from that, the story is a quick-read fantasy. I didn't feel like there was much to take away from it except for the beautiful Naga traditions of India.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews