The Lost Jewels

A skeleton wearing eight rings, bangles and necklaces on every bone — the kind of image that lingers. This story of Phanibhushan and his wife is one of eighteen tales handpicked from Rabindranath Tagore's original Bengali writing and retold in English for young readers, and it carries its own quiet warning about holding too tightly to possessions. Elsewhere in the collection, the stories move through love, sadness, happiness and longing, offering along the way a glimpse of the customs and social life of an older India. Written by a master storyteller, these tales are built to delight readers young and old alike.