A novel which defies easy categorization - its central character is India's holiest river, the Narmada, mere sight of which is salvation. The narrator, a retired civil servant, has escaped the world to spend his twilight years running a guest house on the river's bank. But he has chosen the wrong place: too many lives converge here. Minstrels, musicians, ascetics, monks - everyone has their own story to tell . . .
What he learns from hearing about the experiences of others is that the human heart has only one secret - the capacity to love.