A musician never realized the truth of the saying ‘Music is a harsh taskmaster’ until his beloved instrument exacts the highest sacrifice. An unfaithful husband is baffled: his wife grows more and more perfect until she literally becomes the goddess of plenty. A loving mother is naturally distraught at the kidnapping of her son by insurgents…or is she? And Modon Sur, with the spoils of a full night’s thievery in tow, finds himself in a sticky situation on a black amavasya night.

In this collection, Mitra Phukan sounds the rhythms of contemporary Assamese society, deftly weaving universal themes of love, loss and ageing with some of the issues facing the region: militancy, witchcraft, and the breakdown of traditional ways of life. Her stories acutely depict people’s struggles to relate to each other across vast social gulfs and within the intricacies of family and love. Intimate, allusive, and wryly observed, A Full Night’s Thievery is a finely drawn portrait of humanity by one of the most prominent literary voices in Assam today.