The Impermanance of Lies

This remarkable collection of short stories spans forty years of the writing career of one of the most eminent Bengali Writer- Jyotirmoyee Devi. Translated first time in English these stories range from the feudal world of the princely state of Jaipur, to East Bengal at the time of the partition, to the urbane world of our cities. The stories reflect the author’s concern with many issues which are still painfully current today: how traditional cultures try to cope with change and how individuals cope navigate their ways between the old and the new. Humane yet unsentimental, sometimes stark, Jyotirmoyee Devi’s vision shows us a host of characters, often caught between the past and the future, the home and the world outside. Extraordinary modern in tone and style, these stories deserve a wider audience beyond the Bengali-speaking one.