Description

In this collection of short stories, Abha Iyengar brings us stories of fragmented and marginalised lives, and the struggle for survival that constitutes most of human existence. The stories speak of power structures continuously navigated by the vulnerable in the hope to give their lives some meaning. There is a blend of myth and sexuality in her explorations of women’s lives and their sense of selfhood. These stories rivet us with their graceful prose and raw, visceral insights.

Weaves gothic, literary and hard-boiled into emotionally-charged tales of love, loss, suffering, and justice. From lusty patriarchs to indigent puppeteers trying another shot at life, these are stories of human resilience and courage which slip in and out of the everyday to venture into realms of darkness and the unknown. Venom and vengeance, fantasy and the forbidden, laughter and tears, propel these captivating narratives towards their memorable denouements, which are satisfying, unpredictable and ever so poignant. — Rajat Chaudhuri

Abha Iyengar’s stories are stories of women, the kind who are special precisely because they are ordinary. They tell us of women who are denied, thwarted, betrayed and abused and yet are not bitter. Flawed, duplicitous, secretive, self-focussed, yes, but never bitter. These women play the cards they’ve been dealt; and therein lies their attractiveness as characters, transparent in their motivations and complex in their actions. — Anukrti Upadhyay

Simple yet twisted, luminous yet dark, the gendered tales here are like silent fireworks going off in the night sky. Hiding inside the gently clenched fist of each short story is a knock-out punch. — Palash Krishna Mehrotra

Abha Iyengar is an award-winning, internationally published writer, editor, translator and a British Council certified creative writing mentor. She is the author of the short story collection, The Gourd Seller and Other Stories and the flash fiction collections, Flash Bites and The Full Platter. She has co-curated a short story collection The Other and curated and edited two flash fiction collections, Kintsugi and Skin.  Her stories have been published in The Best Asian Speculative Fiction and The Best Asian Crime Fiction anthologies and innumerable literary journals. She was a Featured Poet at Poetry with Prakriti. She received the Lavanya Sankaran Writing Fellowship for the Sangam House residency. Her poem-film, Parwaz (Flight), won a Special Jury prize in Patras, Greece. She is the founder of Creative Wings Studio and has eight published books to her credit.

Follow her on FB, X and Instagram: @abhaiyengar

Website: www.abhaiyengar.com