Set in early 20th-century rural Karnataka, Scion is a work of great sociocultural importance, chronicling the intersecting lives of a handful of highly intelligent, sensitive, and emotive characters—all torn apart, brought together, and then torn apart again under extraordinary circumstances.
A complex and stunningly woven tale of diverse human characters, their innermost desires, struggles, grief, and joys, the novel explores the concept of polygamy, re-marriage (in a time when it was a social taboo), death, grief, devotion, celibacy, reverse narratives of motherhood, Oedipus complex, self-sacrifice or lack thereof, betrayal, forgiveness, and transcendence and resurrection.
The novel, while creating knotty human characters, explores larger philosophical and existential questions about being human, right and wrong, and community versus individual freedoms and choices. Scion is a major literary feat, and Bhyrappa is a master raconteur, displaying all his talents at their best.