Twelve stories that provide startling glimpses of contemporary life in Bombay, and elsewhere. An innocuous jazz concert that awakens painful memories for a middle-aged caregiver, a wealthy business woman compelled by the desire to hurt her best friend, a lonely, old woman in a Tokyo apartment who seeks the touch of a baby's hand. Tales about friendship and repulsion, family ties and freedom; violence, public and private; ambition and uncertainty, alienation and acceptance, growing up and growing old.

Veena Gokhale started her career in the mercurial world of print journalism in Bombay, in the 1980s. She first came to Canada on a journalism fellowship, returning to do a Masters in Environmental Studies in Toronto. After immigrating, she worked in communications for non-profit organizations, which included a two-year stint in Tanzania. She has published fiction and poetry in anthologies and literary journals, and read from her work. In 2011, she received a grant from Vivacité Montréal, Quebec Arts Council, to write her first novel. She is currently marketing that book. She lives in Montreal with her partner, Marc-Antoine.

Veena Gokhale's profile page

These are stories that provide the genuine flavour and taste of India, and other exotic locales — we meet true-to-life characters imbued with interest and complexity. — Mark Frutkin