'Morbid, and yet, you can't help but laugh.. refreshing, seductive and magical. If this book wasn't already on your radar, it needs to be.' Oyinkan Braithwaite'I read this book in a single addictive sitting. It will stay with me for a long time' Jeet Thayil'Paralkar has created my favorite kind of story: morbid, magical, and enthralling' Sarah BlakeAs dusk approaches, a former surgeon goes about closing up his dilapidated clinic in rural India. His day, like all his days, has been long and hard. His medical supplies arrive late if at all, the electrics in the clinic threaten to burn out at any minute, and his overseer, a corrupt government official, blackmails and extorts him. It is thankless work, but the surgeon has long given up any hope of reward in this life.That night, as the surgeon completes his paperwork, he is visited by a family - a teacher, his heavily pregnant wife and their young son. Victims of a senseless attack, they reveal to the surgeon wounds that they could not pos