Love across the Salt Desert: Selected Short Stories

Keki N Daruwalla

Penguin-Ravi Dayal,

248 pages, R299

This volume brings together a selection of Daruwalla’s best-received short fiction, and highlights his thematic variety and breadth of vision. In the title story, Najab defies his father, the international border between India and Pakistan, and the hostile salt desert of the Rann of Kutch, all for Fatimah. In ‘When Gandhi Came to Gorakhpur’, Shadilal, a small-time lawyer, dithers over giving up his profession and joining the freedom struggle until his mind is made up for him.