Perumal Murugan is one of the best Indian writers today. He trains his unsentimental eye on men and women who live in the margins of our society. He tells their stories with deep sympathy and calm clarity. A lonely night watchman falls in love with the ghost of a rape victim. A terrified young goat thief finds himself surrounded by a mob baying for his blood. An old peasant exhausted by a lifetime of labour is consumed by jealousy and driven to an act of total destruction. Set in the arid Kongu landscape of rural Tamil Nadu, these tales illuminate the extraordinary acts that make up everyday lives.........

Contents

Preface: A World of Exceptions
1.The Well
2.The Wailing of a Toilet Bowl
3.Muscial Chairs
4.The Night the Owls Stopped Crying
5.Unexpected Visitor
6.Mirror of Innocence
7.The Goad Thief
8.Shift
9.Samctuary
10.The Man who could Not Sleep

Translatores Note