The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories is a collection of four short stories about strong female characters dealing with difficult life-changing situations. The turmoil that they face is, often, the result of a social structure that discriminates against women. Through these powerful women characters, the stories reflect attitudes and ways of life in a village in India, and in modern day Mumbai; they highlight the values of an older generation, and the dreams of a new one. Beneath all their differences, The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories illuminate the quality of women's lives, exposing the pain, the injustices, as well as the triumphs that make up their existence.

Aparna Kaji Shah was born in Mombasa, and grew up in Mumbai. She has a Master's degree in English and Aesthetics from the University of Bombay, and an M. Phil. in English from SNDT University, Mumbai. After she moved to Canada in 1985, she obtained a B.Ed. from the University of Toronto. She and her husband, and their family, have lived for various periods in the UK, India, and Singapore. She and her husband returned permanently to Canada in 2013 and continue to live in Toronto. Her fiction has been included in several anthologies. The Scent of Mogra and Other Stories is her debut collection of short fiction.

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"These stories explore women's souls. A bride writes letters that record her own "vanishing" in the prison of her marriage. Other women's lives are determined by the living and the dead as they make "homes in many cities" from the Sabarmati River to Lake Ontario. Spirits, memories and dreams live inside their pressing realities. The world needs all our stories and Aparna Kaji Shah tells hers with honesty and poignancy in this new collection."
--Kim Echlin, author of The Disappeared and Under the Visible Life

"The stories in this collection are touching and give readers a glimpse into the inner world of the modern Indian woman as she traverses different spaces."
--Namita Devidayal, author of The Music Room, Aftertaste, and The Sixth String of Vilayat Khan

"Aparna Shah writes with sensitivity and insight. These stories spin a magical tapestry woven with themes of unrequited love, mortality, immortality and spirits that endure."
--Shilpi Somaya Gowda, bestselling author of The Golden Son