Selected Short Stories (Tagore)

Who it's for

Tagore writes brief, tender stories told from the side of the person who is left or overlooked, so readers who have lost a bond that others dismissed as minor can feel their grief taken seriously.

Feelings it meets

• Separation from Loved Ones
• Chronic Illness
• Grief
• Family Roles
• Major Life Transition
• Loneliness

What it is

This is a collection of Rabindranath Tagore's Bengali short stories from the 1890s, translated with an introduction by William Radice for Penguin Classics, depicting rural and town life in late-19th-century Bengal. In 'The Postmaster', a lonely postmaster from Calcutta posted to the village of Ulapur grows close to Ratan, an orphan girl who keeps house for him, and then leaves the village.

Where to find it

Older English translations (e.g., 'The Postmaster' in Mashi and Other Stories, 1918; 'The Cabuliwallah' in The Hungry Stones and Other Stories, 1916) are public domain and free on Project Gutenberg an.

Before you start

Heads up: Child abandonment and forced marriage.

Age: Ages 12+

I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights