The Artist of Disappearance

Set in modern India, where history still casts a long shadow, The Artist of Disappearance gives us glimpses into three very different lives. The first sees a government official inspecting a faded mansion of forgotten treasures and coming across the final, shocking gift which is bleeding the museum dry. In the second, a middle-aged woman meets a former friend at a school reunion - a meeting which sets in motion the unravelling of all her desires and achievements. The final story is of Ravi, living hermit-like in the burnt-out shell of his family home high up in the Himalayan mountains. He cultivates not only silence and solitude but a secret hidden away in the woods, concealed from sight. Rich and evocative, remarkable in their clarity and sensuous in their telling, these stories remind us of the extraordinary yet delicate power of this pre-eminent writer.