Mulk Raj Anand (1905-2004) had one lament he often voiced to his friends and literary critics-that his short stories were not paid enough attention. This book brings together some of the best and most memorable stories from Anand's published collections, each of them illustrating a different mood and tone. In his half-humorous and half-ironic way, Anand draws our attention to the plight of the marginalized, the poor and the illiterate; stories have the power to charm and penetrate their innermost feelings and emotions. Straightforward, unpretentious and expertly crafted, these unforgettable vignettes of life in twentieth-century India are sure to haunt the reader long after the book has been put down. "Mr. Anand has a marvelous power of evoking an immense varied life as it bubbles in front of his eyes, without once losing contact with his character..." --V S Pritchett, British Literary Critic "Mr. Anand's writing has an attractive sensous quality. He somehow charges his pages with heat, colour, scents (or smells). He has most of all, the touch, the power that makes the writer great-he can give human weakness a dignity of its own." --Elizabeth Bowen in Tatler.