India, July 11 -- If you think life in the mountains is all peace and romance, this book might change your mind. Bela Negi's The Tree With Eyes and Other Short Stories is a collection of nine short stories that capture the breathtaking beauty of the mountains without overlooking its darker realities.

Remaining rooted in the essence of Nature, in the collection, the mountains bring with them an all-encompassing presence and indirectly shape the destinies of those who call them their home. Gulab, the shepherd and medicine man in Where the Road Ends was content living up in the mountains, but his life succumbs to a darker fate after descending to the foothills. Despite acknowledging Nature's destructive force like Shekhar's deserted village...