Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love

A poignant collection of short stories centers on India and its many facets, from the fabled India of old to modern India, from the rice fields of Bengal to the streets of Calcutta, exploriong themes of love, faith, and courage

India was home to British authors Rumer and her late sister Jon during much of their lives. In this collection, stories of rare sensitivity shed light on widely various communities: lush Kashmir; upward-striving Bengal; utterly deprived Calcutta. Subtle humor animates three of four pieces by Jon, notably "The Carpet," about a master of the soft sell who makes his costly treasures irresistible to the strongest will. These stories differ slightly in viewpoint from Rumer's contributions, two haunting narrative poems and seven adventures. But there are similarities also; as Rumer notes, she and Jon"felt intensely about the same things." The title character in Jon's "Miss Passano" grumbles about inconveniences while battering her small, defenseless niece for a minor mistake. In the collection's title story by Rumer, "mercy, pity, peace and love" are the qualities an ambitious student aims to investigate in his doctoral thesis, even as he is unmoved to such feelings surrounded by people suffering on Calcutta's teeming streets.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

These 13 stories and two poems are the third joint collection of two British sisters who spent much of their childhood in a Bengali village. (Jon Godden died in 1984.) Most of the stories are by the popular Rumer, author of over 20 novels, as well as works of nonfiction, poetry, children's books, and, most recently, the second volume of her memoirs, A House with Four Rooms ( LJ 10/1/89). Set in Calcutta, Bengal, and Kashmir, the stories conjure up an India rife with both the expected sensual luxuries and small but significant cruelties. In the title story, a student struggles to write a dissertation on brotherly love amidst squalor and greed in a Calcutta bazaar. In "The Wild Duck," the imperfect slaughter of a female duck by a Kashmiri boy is told with characteristic passion and sensitivity. Though somewhat lacking in vitality, the writing is graceful, details are rich , and a pleasant sense of timelessness prevails.
- Susanna Bartmann Pathak, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.