You can sit by a river all day long just to watch what the current carries past. Depending on the day and where you live, it could be small boats with fishermen, young children on inner tubes, paper lanterns lit by candles, or bodies. And the only thing they will have in common is the river itself. The same is true of these stories. They range from a first day at school, to running away from home, to the breaking of feet, to the death of a husband still alive. And all they have in common is me, and what flowed through my mind on the days I wrote them.

'The fourteen stories that comprise Floating Petals are small gems - lovingly crafted, shaped and polished. Ms Panikar deals with subjects, locations and protagonists that in the wrong hands could have ended up being maudlin and overwritten. The author has, however, through an economy of words, experience of life, and love of the language, created a collection of stories some of which you will want to read again as soon as you finish the book.'

195 x 128 x 14 mm, 184 pp, 183 gm