In this collection of short stories, Avinuo Kire tells powerful tales of women overcoming violence and repression. In The Power to Forgive, many of the stories are told against the backdrop of the struggle for Nagaland’s independence from India. Yet it is the finely drawn portraits of ordinary people that resonate most in this unusual collection.
Culled from folk and tribal traditions of Naga life, Kire’s collection takes us into a world where spirits converse with humans and where unsuspecting people are drawn into forces greater than themselves. Among others, we find a man dying quietly of cancer, a mother questioning her choice to give her a child a name she didn’t intend, and a survivor reflecting on the ways that a traumatic event has shaped nearly two decades of her life. A fresh voice from a region of India renowned for its writers, Kire offers a promising and moving debut.