Counterpoint

A collection of stories drawn from the ample body of work published only in the New Yorker, alongside a few other stories long out of print and out of the public eye. Ruth Jhabvala began publishing in the New Yorker in 1957 and this collection spans decades. This story collection showcases Jhabvala''s powers of keen observation as she examines the westernization of India''s middle class, the interplay of social and romantic ambition, and the social mores that plague her characters, regardless of their geographical background. The introduction will be from the lecture Jhabvala gave when awarded the Neil Gunn Prize in Scotland in 1979, a piece titled ''Disinheritance'' that examines the effects Germany, the UK, India, and New York had on her journey as a writer and how they influenced her buoyant, satiric fiction.

Andy Catlett''s story begins as his grandfather, Marce Catlett, rises in the dark to go from his farm, by horseback and train, to Louisville for the sale of his tobacco crop at the auction house. The price paid for each year''s crop is determined and destroyed by the power of a single buyer, James B. Duke. This year is especially grim since the price offered to each grower is less than the expense of bringing the crop to market. A year''s worth of labour is lost. Marce returns to his family determined to discover some way to proceed. Many of his fellow farmers lack the resiliency and resourcefulness to continue, and the end for them is nearing. But only with the help of other neighbours and growers can a way be found that protects the farmers and keeps these rural families vital and in place. The power and depth of this story - and of the many stories within the Port William Membership - resonate with love, memory, kindness, and a sense of eternity. In Marce Catlett, celebrated author Wendell Berry brings to life a character that the devoted readers of the series will cherish. This moving story is a testament to the goodwill that lives within the human heart and a stirring reminder that standing up for what we believe in is always a cause worth fighting for.

Rina Kirsch is a young mother and Modern Orthodox Jew in the Pico-Robertson neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Dutifully keeping to the formidable expectations of a traditional household connects Rina with generations past and those to come. But a contradiction burns at her centre: Rina is an atheist. She is also stymied in her life and marriage. Hoping to reinvigorate their relationship, Rina''s husband convinces her to partake in a night of wife swapping with other Orthodox couples. Rather than preserve her marriage, however, the swap plunges Rina down a heady path that begins with a rekindled passion for painting and culminates in an intoxicating affair with Will Ochoa, her married art teacher. Clandestine rendezvous and stolen moments of ardour awaken Rina to an existence beyond the confining parameters of tradition, offering a glimpse at the possible life she left behind in the olive groves of her youth. As the blush of erotic thrill comes into sharp contrast with the complications of living a secret life, Rina must decide if it''s worth sacrificing everything she''s ever known to fully inhabit the uncharted landscape unfolding before her, one where her needs take precedence. Told in the fevered tenor common to both lust and religious devotion, Olive Days is an unforgettable story of the agonizing choices women make to balance duty against desire.

Thirty years ago, John Lo, the only Asian American partner at a prestigious New York City law firm, was acquitted of the murder of an employee he was having an affair with. The repercussions of that long-ago event still haunt his adult children. Brennan, a lawyer following in her father''s footsteps in more ways than one, has always maintained that the trial got it right. Hunter, a disgruntled war correspondent whose similarities to his father run more than skin-deep, believes their father got away with murder. Their convictions have pushed them apart. Now, spurred on by their mother''s failing health, the estranged siblings decide to reconcile their differences by reinvestigating the murder to come to a definitive conclusion, and, in the process, salvage what''s left of their fragmented family. Told in a dual timeline that moves between John''s perspective thirty years prior and Brennan and Hunter''s present-day investigation, Hollow Spaces is a moving portrait of a flawed man''s shocking fall from grace and a gripping exploration of race in corporate America, filial loyalty, ambition, and the fallout of a sensational trial for those caught in its wake.

March 31, 1985. Two white patrol officers in search of a gang member followed a pickup truck carrying seven young Black men up a dirt driveway in the Encanto neighbourhood of Southeastern San Diego. Minutes later, gunshots rang out, and the truck''s driver, Sagon Penn, fled the scene in an officer''s patrol car. The incident stunned the city. What followed would change it forever. Penn was an idealist who believed in the power of Buddhist chants to bring about the oneness of humanity. The two police officers were rising stars in one of the most progressive police departments in the country, yet one that had suffered more officers killed in the line of duty than any other. While the facts of the case were never in dispute, what remained unresolved was what, if anything, could justify such a violent confrontation? For over two years, a determined prosecutor and a charismatic defence attorney engaged in a sensational courtroom drama that revolved around matters of mental health, racial biases, and the self-image of a once-sleepy beach town grappling with its transformation into a major metropolitan area. The Sagon Penn incident forever altered how San Diego would respond to incidents involving police and communities of colour. Based on court transcripts, personal interviews, and archival police reports, Reap the Whirlwind is a gripping true-crime narrative set against the evocative backdrop of Southern California.

For decades, a dark force has terrorized the Languille Lake reservation. Only spoken of in whispers as ''the sandman,'' he lurks in the Hidden Atlantis Lake Resort and Casino, the reservation''s main attraction and source of revenue, leeching its patrons'' dreams and ambitions and also preventing the ghosts that linger there from moving on. Fleeing a breakup, Marion Lafournier, a mid-twenties Ojibwe, seeks solace in the slot machine''s siren song. Here he falls afoul of the sandman, an encounter Marion barely escapes through the timely intervention of his cousins Alana and Cherie, who both work at the casino and are intimately aware of the sandman''s power. Meanwhile, Glenn Nielan, only recently out of the closet and an aspiring documentarian, hopes to capture the faces of the Ojibwe land while experiencing the casino''s thrills. But he will learn that all who choose to play the sandman''s games are in danger of falling into his grasp. Marion and Alana are members of the Bullhead clan, a family with ties to a sacred past and a fierce determination to ensure their future. Alana, with her seven-fire sight, is the only person to fully grasp the danger the sandman poses. Aware of Marion''s occasional ability to navigate the spirit world, she enlists his aid in defeating this wraith. But the power and reach of the sandman go far beyond Alana''s worst fears. Soon she and Marion find themselves in a battle for their lives and for the souls of the reservation''s residents, both the living and the dead.