Strong collection of eleven intersecting stories from the Toronto based Indian writer who has already been Booker shortlisted twice, in 1991 for his first novel, Such A Long Journey, and again last year for his second, A Fine Balance. Mistry's slightly formal, almost old fashioned approach to narrative and obvious concern for his characters creates atmospheric little worlds. His stories are human sagas and he usually manages to be sympathetic while avoiding sentimentality. His themes juxtapose the public and the private, the individual and the national. Fascinated by India's political history, he explores the old world and the new, and it is not surprising to see, in the final story, "Swimming Lessons", one of his characters, young Kersi, grown up and living in Canada.