This collection brings between two covers some of the most memorable fiction that has emerged from R.K Narayan's pen.It contains The Man-eater of Malgudi, arguably the greatest novel Narayan has ever written, which tells the story of Nataraj, owner of a small printing press, and his house guest Vasu, a taxidermist, who moves into Nataraj's attic with a menagerie of dead animals.There is also Talkative Man, a novella that starts off with the arrival on the Delhi train of a stranger in a blue suit who takes up residence in the station waiting-room and refuses to budge. Also included here are some of the most popular and striking short stories Narayan has ever written: from the celebrated 'A Horse And Two Goats' and 'Salt and Sawdust', the tale of a wife who cannot distinguish between salt and sawdust for seasoning and thus leaves her husband with no option bt to cook himself , to gems like 'An Astrologer's Day','The Shelter' and 'Under The Banyan Tree', which is about a man called Nambi who has the uncanny ability to mesmerize his audience with his stories, but eventually lapses into silence.

Encapsulating the very best of R.K Narayan's remarkable output, this is a fitting tribute to one of the greatest living writers in the English language.