Ignored by her well-meaning husband, Charulata falls in love with her high-spirited young cousin in The Broken Nest (Nashtaneer, 1901). Sharmila in Two Sisters ( Dui Bon, 1933) witnesses her husband sink her fortunes and his passion into his business-and her sister. And the invalid Neeraja finds her life slowly ebbing away as a new love awakens for her beloved husband in The Arbour (Malancha, 1934). Romantic, subtle and nuanced, Rabindranath Tagore's novellas are about the undercurrents in relationships, the mysteries of love, and the ties and bonds of marriage, and above all, the dreams and desires of  women.

Translated by Arunava Sinha, the series editor of the Random House India Classics Series, Bengali.