Bombay Stories (Vintage International)
When Manto arrived in 1930s Bombay, he fell in love with the city.  For him, it was a place bursting with energy and at the same time filled with a hopeless despondency.  Manto spent his most creative years there, and Bombay Stories is the result, a collection of 14 stories set in that thriving metropolis.  Most of the tales revolve around what Salman Rushdie called Manto’s “lowlives.”  Prostitutes, pimps, con men, thieves, and thugs inhabited the city’s dark side, while aspiring writers, actors, and intellectuals searched for fame.  Manto depicts this lower strata of society in an almost loving way, with delicacy, grace, and a kind of Everyman quality, so that who they are becomes secondary to how they live.  The simple narration and strong imagery reflect Manto’s keen powers of observation.  Beautifully crafted and skillfully translated, the stories remain as startling and provocative today as they were when originally written. They will be for many readers a long-awaited and deeply satisfying introduction to one of India’s greatest storytellers. --Carol Gladstein