Lucid, lyrical and frequently humorous, this exciting new collection of Hussein's stories range from the experimental approach of 'The Man from Beni Mora' and 'The Tree at the Limit' or more mellow explorations of legends of love and loss in 'The Swan's Wife', to the rambling conversations of two Karachi veterans lunching by the sea while their city rains down on them in 'Two Old Friends'. This collection is testimony to the attributes which make him one of our leading exponents of the art of the short story

Akhil Sharma is the author of the novel An Obedient Father, for which he won the 2001 PEN/Hemingway Award. He has also published stories in, among others, the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Best American Short Stories anthology. He lives in New York.