India, Sept. 19 -- If you had to pick the best Tamil stories of our time, what would you include? Where - and when - would you begin? The idea is daunting, given the richness and vastness of Tamil literature. But then Perundevi, who has edited the volume, has done it remarkably well. Twenty-two handpicked short stories spanning three decades, several continents and countries, and many faiths explore the idea, identity, and the experience of being Tamil.

In her introduction, Perundevi writes that "a common thread that unites the stories in this anthology is their unflinching confrontation with life and truth, set against the shifting realities of the world outside of them."

The shifting realities that underpin this collection are truly f...