One September night, Katy Gardner, a young British postgraduate student, travelled by boat across flooded fields to stay in the small Bangladeshi village of Talukpur. Through the series of narratives which constitute this book she sets out to bring to life the villagers and their stories. We meet Amma, who secretly secures a love potion for her shamed, deserted daughter; Banessa, a destitute woman who entertains everyone with her loud, vulgar songs; the young bride Hushnia, who goes into a swoon in an attempt to avoid her wedding day; and Abdul Hasain, the Quranic scholar who, when possessed of a jiin, forgets every word he has ever studied. We learn, too, of the author's life in the village: the warm friendships she makes, many with women secluded in purdah, and her clumsy attempts, wryly observed, to live as a villager and a Muslim woman.