The 12 stories in this book, originally written and published in Malayalam over a period of almost two decades, represent different phases in E. Santhosh Kumar’s writing career spanning a quarter of a century. Hence the themes are different, though there are undercurrents that connect them like a blood stream. As the author says, ‘working on a story is like working on a life, a set of characters around the geography where they live … while writing stories at least, writers do play God, in their little way.’

A Fistful of Mustard Seeds explores moral dilemmas, personal traumas and delves into the dark recesses of the soul. These insightful and deeply moving stories illuminate the elevations and abysses of the human condition. Sensitive, thought-provoking and perceptive, each story is a vignette into a different realm of emotional experience.