# Hangman’s Journal

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/shashi-warrier/hangmans-journal

![Hangman’s Journal](https://quivercdn.com/covers/india-penguin/shashi-warrier/hangmans-journal_978-01-4028-716-5.png?v=2026-08-04%2009%3A58%3A20)

- Authors: [Shashi Warrier](https://www.bookquiver.com/shashi-warrier)
- Language: en_IN
- Published: 2009-02-01

## Description

They say that the hangman’s job is an art. Positioning the knot under the prisoner’s ear is the most important part of the job; get it exactly right and there’s not a quiver from the rope except for that little jerk at the drop, when his neck breaks. A few millimetres off, and the man’s neck does not break; he dies of strangulation, slowly painfully. Written with rare power and unflinching directness, this is a compelling, often unsettling account of a life of great psychological and moral complexity. The real life story of the Hangman working for the king of Travancore, a small pre-independence South Indian kingdom unfolds in full detail. Each time he returned from the gallows, he told himself that it would be the last time. But he went back, a hundred and seventeen times. He did what he was ordered to do and shut out difficult memories, till an encounter with a writer almost a quarter century after his last hanging forced him to confront his past. This Book takes us into the mind of a Man struggling to come to terms with his Dharma, his conscience, and his shame.

## Editions

### Hangman’s Journal

- Publisher: india_penguin
- ISBN: 978-01-4028-716-5
- Pages: 248
- Published: 2009-02-01
- Language: en_IN