On The Eve Of Uncertain Tomorrows

In this expertly crafted book of short stories, his first since Digging up the Mountains , Neil Bissoondath evokes an exhilarating range of emotions. He is a master of comic detail, a sly conjurer of the unexpected, and a compassionate chronicler of people’s hopes, fears, dreams, and needs. His gallery of characters, vividly brought to life by the precise and supple prose for which Bissoondath is renowned, is made up of strangers in strange lands, desperately hoping to find their tomorrows. Some do. The tragedies and complexities — both political and personal — of these characters are laid bare. Yet this is, above all, Neil Bissoondath’s most hopeful book to date. With his assured and humane voice, he celebrates the small acts of triumph achieved by people emotionally endangered, people searching for a calm centre.