37 Bridges and Other Stories

A poem sparks off an epistolary exploration of romance, a television series consumes a writer’s curiosity, a princess sets out in search of her husband, a young boy learns of love and loss at boarding school – Aamer Hussein infuses these stories with his musical, poetic sensibility. From the experimental ‘The Tree at the Limit’ to the mellow, almost mythical ‘The Swan’s Wife’, and to the rambling conversations of two Karachi veterans lunching by the sea while their city rains down on them in ‘Two Old Friends’, these tales examine belonging and displacement, homes and would-be homes. Five stories, including the diptych ‘Knotted Tongue’, originally written in Urdu by the author, were translated into English to explore new voices and visions.Blending modern art with soap opera, traditional tales with contemporary realities, humour with wisdom, this is a masterful new collection from a leading exponent of the short story.