She and I

Kamala | a beautiful | self-possessed and fiercely independent widow | comes to a village | where she has been given a job on compassionate grounds | with her two daughters. She meets the narrator for the first time at a phone booth | and almost immediately | becomes the object of his lonely | consuming passion. He’s a drifter | educated but jobless | low on self-esteem | and his love will become a derangement. He will seek debasement | he will rage and inflict violence | and eventually set in motion a desperate plan that might destroy both Kamala and him. Translated with brilliant skill from the Tamil original—En Kathe—this is a compelling and unsettling study of obsession. It is an unforgettable work by one of India’s finest and most powerful writers.