The Go Between and other stories

Written in a deceptively simple and staccato style, and often with open-ended conclusions, Ghanshyam Desai's short stories are as relevant today as when they were first written. Taken from his story collections Tolu and Bandh Barna, the twenty-one stories in this book explore the longings, frustrations, guilt and violence that lie below the surface of seemingly ordinary lives. A young boy dreams of taking revenge on his father ('Plugging the leak'); a husband is tormented by the suspicion that his wife is having an affair ('Yet again'); the narrator examines his own ambivalent role in a love affair ('The go-between'). Ghanshyam Desai exposes hypocrisies, satirizes blind beliefs, tackles issues of free will and fate. Desai's sharp yet compassionate humour shines through in 'Say Tuka' and 'Gokulji's family tree', while 'The crow' is a surreal account of a man metamorphosed into a rapacious crow.