The Wordsmith

Moyna of Joharkhat belongs to a Dalit community that society has cast out and blamed for its own failings. Shunned and slandered, he is gradually driven into crime, and he ends up living two lives: by day he grows paddy in the fields, and by night he goes out to steal.

This coming-of-age novel follows his struggle and the possibility of a new beginning. It is a translation of the Assamese novel Kotha Ratnakar, which won the Sahitya Akademi award, and it tells a very human story of redemption and rebirth.