Whom Can I Tell? How Can I Explain?

These English translations from Gujarati bring Saroj Pathaks work to a wider audience, giving it the greater attention it deserves. Delving deep into the human mind, the stories depict the pitfalls of communication, the infinite possibilities of misunderstanding, of doubt and despair. At the same time they celebrate the human psyches ability to bridge these chasms and make connections, of love, understanding, and friendship. Pathak considers the predicaments of both women and men as they grapple with the modernity that has been thrust upon them. Indeed, Pathaks interest in men as well as women characters distinguishes her from many other women novelists. In her stories love and cruelty are closely intertwined, whether between a young loafer who tries to befriend a crippled girl with devastating results, or between an old couple, where the husband sends the wife away on a fools errand through a misplaced concern for her. In The Vicious Round, a ladies tailor becomes obsessed with one of his young clients, who in turn is single-mindedly involved with a trousseau, while in The Ace of Trumps, a single, middle aged working woman plots to escape from her servitude to her brothers family.