My Kind of Girl
by Buddhadeva Bose
Published in Bengali in 1952
Published in English translation by Random House India, 2009; Archipelago Books USA, 2010; Hesperus Press UK 2011
Published in other languages – translated from English – in Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Korea and Japan
Shortlisted, Vodafone Crossword Book Award for Best Book in Translation, 2009
From the jacket
Is the memory of happiness that has passed, sad or happy?
A modern-day Bengali Decameron, My Kind of Girl is a sensitive and vibrant novella containing four disarming accounts of unrequited love. In a railway station one bleak December night, four strangers from different walks of life – a contractor, a government bureaucrat, a writer, and a doctor – face an overnight delay. The sight of a young loving couple prompts them to reflect on and share with each other their own experiences of the vagaries of the human heart in a story cycle that is in turn melancholy, playful, wise, and heart-wrenching. The tales reveal each traveler’s inner landscape and provide an illuminating glimpse into contemporary life in India. Coming out of a great storytelling tradition, My Kind of Girl is a moving and imaginative look at love from one of India’s most celebrated writers.
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