The Occult

Haunting in their unadorned and austere beauty, the five inter woven stories of the occult have no discernible plots, their terrains are unidentifiable, the characters that inhabit them have no names. Houses possess domains where you are overcome with fear or desire without knowing why. A lone dark cloud that brings sudden rain traverses the inter-penetrating landscape of the five stories. Time passes swiftly in some locations and is knotted thickly at others. An exquisitely made artefact could either be the model for a palace or a memorial of it. Has the woman fleeing managed to escape once again or has she drowned in the fast-flowing river? a narrative thread from one story may be taken up and twisted in another. Together the stories create a shimmering maze where meaning is elusive but from which the enchanted reader never wants to exit. Selling points the first full translation of the most celebrated story collection from one of the greatest urdu writers. A superbly translated and beautifully produced book for a high literary readership.