Passion Flower: Seven Stories of Derangement

Cyrus Mistry

Aleph Book Company

208 pages, RS. 495

The characters in the DSC Prize-winning author Cyrus Mistry’s first collection of short stories walk a thin line between fantasy and reality. A chance discovery on the floor of a local bus transforms the melancholic life of Percy, who meets a ghost in the washroom of a public library; a new mother struggling with depression and the urge to end her newborn’s life opens the door to a stranger; Jacintha, stalked by mysterious men, believes her enemies are out to eliminate her because she knows too much; Bokha tries to counter the powerful black magic of his wicked old mother in order to shield his helpless lover. In the title story, Mahendroo, full of himself, is consumed by an obsessive search for an elusive species of Passiflora. Passion Flower is an original and disturbing compendium from one of India’s most gifted storytellers.