While 'What the Souls Do at Midnight' and 'A Cat, Utterly Personal' acerbically trace the subtle forms of control exercised on women, the title story explores the absurdity of desire, and 'The Saga of Krishna' refers directly to the series of 'sex-racket' cases that created a huge uproar in recent times in Kerala. This selection showcases Meera's impressive range of narrative techniques and her capacity for dark humour. Appropriately, Devika's translations are hardly faithful in the conventional sense. They are, rather, the result of careful consideration of the different senses of meaning that Meera's writing holds, and of the effort to convey the unique texture of each of her stories.

'An intense, dramatic novel written in spare, well-crafted prose . . . A deep, dark tale' The Hindu When Tulsi first meets Madhav, she is irrevocably drawn to his chiselled good looks and charm. Although wary of his many dalliances and the string of broken hearts left in his wake, she is surprised by the intense desire that Madhav arouses in her. And before long, she forsakes her family, her prospective career, her fiancé-all for the love of this inscrutable man. But love can be like poison. Years later, Tulsi escapes to the ancient city of Vrindavan, seeking redemption amidst the cries and prayers of its anguished widows. However, when her past catches up with her, old wounds resurface with dramatic consequences. 'Enthralling . . . disturbing . . . A book that resonates powerfully with some of our most primal impulses-a consuming love, a corrosive hatred, a need for vengeance' Indian Express 'A novella [of] so much intensity . . . Ministhy is new to translating K.R. Meera but manages to wring out each drop of obsession' Outlook 'Written with such breathless energy and foreboding that you can barely put the book down . . . A masterpiece in miniature' The Hindu BusinessLine

Translated from the Malayalam by Abhirami Girija Sriram and K.S. Bijukumar Jezebel, a young doctor in Kerala, struggles against the cruel realities of a patriarchal world-realities that not even her education, resolve or professional brilliance can shield her from. Her already contentious divorce proceedings go suddenly awry, and her unhappy marriage holds complex secrets. In K.R. Meera's blistering new novel, which takes the form of a courtroom drama to show us the rich inner worlds of its characters, we see Jezebel reflect on her life and its pivotal points as she takes the stand. Through her memories, we see her grow from a reticent, serious young woman to a rebel who refuses to bend to the conventions of society. Like the Biblical story of Queen Jezebel, who was much maligned as a scheming harlot and infamously thrown to her death from her palace window, Jezebel is a novel that asks if independent women can ever live lives that are free of judgement K.R. Meera's hypnotic prose, in this elegant translation from the Malayalam by Abhirami Girija Sriram and K.S. Bijukumar, makes resonant allusions to the Bible in powerful ways that elucidate the correlations between legend and the protagonist's life while also exploring how sexuality and gender roles are manipulated by the dictates of society.

One fateful day, Deepti vanishes mysteriously. Baffled by her disappearance and consumed with grief, Prakash, her husband, loses his eyesight. For Prakash, the inexplicable loss of his wife is doubly painful because she was pregnant with their child. And no amount of consolation can bring him solace in the years that ensue. Into this void steps Rajani, a woman with a tormented past. Despite her initial disdain of Prakash, she steadily finds herself drawn to him. And although an intense desire brings them together, Prakash is unable to give Rajani the love she craves just as he is powerless to dispel the luminous memory of Deepti. But where will this grave obsession lead? The Unseeing Idol of Light is a haunting tale that explores love and loss, blindness and sight, obsession and suffering-and the poignant interconnections between them.