North-east India, 1945. Tensions are rising, but fourteen-year-old Joya doesn't pay much attention to 'political business' &– she is more concerned with doing well at school and having fun with her best friends. Yet when her father disappears without a trace, Joya's life falls apart. Forced to drop out of school and support her mother by working in a garment factory, she refuses to accept that her father is gone forever, spending her nights sewing him a suit from scraps of fine material. But as political unrest grows and rumours of corruption spread, Joya questions the true nature of her father's disappearance. And who is the sinister figure known only as the two-tailed snake?

"From the limitless imagination of Nod Ghosh, we readers are gifted with three novellas of impressive scope and depth. These narratives, deftly distilled and interwoven, speak to the vagaries of love and loss, of betrayal and intrigue. Brilliant, dark, and riveting, 'Filthy Sucre' is a collection by one of our best writers at the height of her powers." Kathy Fish, author of 'Wild Life: Collected Works from 2003-2018' "Nod Ghosh knows how to unspool a tale that keeps us turning pages, missing train stops, and binge-reading way into the night. The three flash novellas of 'Filthy Sucre' entice us into complex liaisons both acrid and sweet; to read her work is to become complicit in her clever webs of dysfunction, where guilt and innocence lose their boundaries and human nature is laid bare." Nancy Stohlman, author of 'Madam Velvet's Cabaret of Oddities' and 'The Vixen Scream and other Bible Stories'

A young bride embroiders a flower leaving one petal blank... sisters conjure silver and gold from thin air... a woman soaks her dentures in sherry... medicine tastes like fish... people are really fruits and birds are really people... A middle-aged woman travels to India to be reunited with her estranged father, a proud man whose outlook is shaped by one of history's forgotten tragedies, the Partition of Inida in 947... People dance in the the streets when the monsoon arrive, released from the oppressive heat and humidity... cultural incongruities are unraveled, attitudes are thrashed out, and the rain pours down...

A boy named Peter arrives on a train ... and Sally's life is changed forever. In a series of tiny stories, Sally reveals what Peter has stolen from her. But there's another voice. Peter's voice. Because he hasn't really done anything wrong. Has he? Years later, Sally uses another train to show Peter the cost of his actions. But is it enough to teach him right from wrong? This story could happen anytime, anywhere. Toy Train ... when games are not what they seem to be.

32 short stories driven by lust or recklessness. Raunchy, ridiculous, raving mad, and occasionally a little bit sad. Includes two threads of linked flash fiction, and LGBT+ literature that could make you laugh or cry. "Their teeth skitter like tambourines. A smattering of dust under noses tells a story they're not ready to share." from 'Seven Lesbians and a Bar of Soap' "I wanted to travel. I wanted to explore realities that were different from my own. I wanted to feel the danger and excitement of alternative lifestyles." from 'The Carpet' "Max was feeling fragile. A friend of his had had a near death experience that involved an unhappy combination of Viagra and poppers." from 'The Lemon Lover' "The corrosive acidity of one-too-many-a-drink and the unwanted attention of a predator with the wrong sort of eyes do nothing to slow her." from 'Appetite'