by Jeet Thayil
First published 2012
In Rashid's opium room on Shuklaji Street in 1970s Bombay, a beautiful young woman holds a long pipe over flickering flames. Her hair falls across dark eyes as men around her sprawl in thick, potent air, each lost in his own chemical drift. The broken city pulses outside with stray dog packs, hustling vendors, and caged prostitutes calling through bars while pimps lurk in doorways. Terror whispers through the underworld about the Pathar Maar, a stone killer hunting the nameless poor who crowd this sprawling metropolis. The woman moves through a world of pushers and poets, gangsters and eunuchs, where people warn that opium should only be given to your worst enemies. In the gloom and squalor of Old Bombay, she witnesses the chaotic rhythm of addiction, violence, and survival that defines her city's hidden depths.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, addiction, crime
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: gritty, intimate
Setting: Bombay, India, Shuklaji Street
Period: 1970s
292 pages · Paperback · Faber & Faber
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use, violence