There Was No One At The Bus-Stop
by Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay
Published in Bengali in 1975
Published in English translation by Penguin India, 2010
From the jacket
‘Love was one thing, sin was another—and although it was difficult to tell love from sin, Trina had learnt to identify some of the signs.’
Set in Calcutta in the 1970s, There Was No One at the Bus Stop is a powerful exploration of adultery and its overwhelming consequences.
Trina, a married woman, impulsively decides one day to stop living a lie and walks out on her husband, daughter and son, in whose lives she no longer plays a role. But will she be able to sever the bonds and join the man she loves in his home? The man, Debashish, is haunted by his wife’s recent suicide and is tormented by the possibility that his young son would rather live away from him.
Through spare prose and searing dialogue, this novel unfolds over twelve hours on a single day. It reveals the often complex reasons that hold human relationships together and the motives that break them apart.
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