When the Mountains Keep Secrets
Some stories begin with a place. Others begin with a fear.
The Backward Path began with both.
I grew up hearing stories about the Kichkandi — the restless spirit of a woman wronged in life, said to walk the lonely trails with her feet turned backward. She appears in white. She lures men who travel alone. And by the time you realize what she is, it is already too late. These were the stories whispered in villages, the ones that made children stay close to the fire after dark.
As I got older, I started noticing something else: how useful those stories could become. Fear is a powerful tool. When people are afraid of a spirit, they stop asking hard questions about missing men, quiet money, and trails that should be empty.
That tension — between old folklore and very modern darkness — became the heartbeat of this novel.
The Story
Anya Sharma left Nepal years ago and built a careful life in London. She never planned to return… until her younger brother, a trekking guide, vanishes on a remote high trail near the Tibet border. Locals whisper about a Kichkandi. Officials offer little help. So Anya does the only thing she can: she goes looking for him herself.
She hires Kabir Thapa, a quiet mountain guide who knows the forbidden trails and carries secrets of his own. What begins as a desperate search quickly becomes something more dangerous. Strange footprints appear. A white figure is glimpsed at dusk. And evidence surfaces that someone powerful is using the old legends as cover for a human conspiracy.
As the altitude rises, so does the cost of the truth. And somewhere between the fear and the thin air, Anya and Kabir begin to find each other.
Why This Story?
I wanted to write a thriller that felt rooted in Nepal — not as an exotic backdrop, but as a living place with its own history, beliefs, and complicated present. The Kichkandi is not just a ghost story in these pages. She is atmosphere, cultural memory, and, at times, a convenient explanation for things people would rather not examine too closely.
At the same time, this is a love story. Not a soft one. The romance between Anya and Kabir grows under pressure — through shared danger, hard silences, and the slow decision to trust someone when trust itself is risky. I have always been drawn to relationships forged in difficult places. The mountains felt like the right setting for that kind of connection.
What I Hope Readers Feel
I hope you feel the cold of the high trails and the weight of unanswered questions. I hope the folklore lingers a little after you close the book. And I hope you root for two people who choose each other even when the path ahead is uncertain.
The Backward Path is a romantic thriller about the stories we inherit, the truths we dig up, and the people we decide to walk beside when the way becomes treacherous.
If you read it, I would love to know what stayed with you.
Book Avaiable here : https://books2read.com/b/3RQlQL
— Prawin Malla