Peter Cassio is an unconventional and uninhibited American wanderer whose ruthlessly candid view of the world is able to harmonize both joy and compassion. The unreconciled influences of Cassio's Greek-Jewish mother and Neapolitan father-violinist, confidence man, and philosopher-have made him a skeptic, pagan, and romantic. Down and out in India, about to start for home, he is caught up in a wild chase for the beautiful and enigmatic Susanna, who is one-part saint, one-part temptress. What unfolds is a spiritual comedy of Cassio's search for the Life Divine preached by Swami, a worldly sage who does not scorn sensual love. Throughout the novel Cassio searches, through tough neighborhoods and picaresque vistas, encountering a host of extraordinary characters: diplomats, charlatans, freeloaders, status seekers, and hipsters. The language of the novel is as free and exhilarating as Cassio's mind, brilliantly recording his humor and the jagged contours of his appetite for life. - The David Rubin Collection seeks to assemble the fiction, non-fiction, translations and poetry of the late American novelist and scholar David Rubin. While he was best known for his translations of Indian writers Premchand and Nirala, David was also a master storyteller. His 1963 novel, The Greater Darkness, won the British Authors' Club award for that year's best first novel. He remained a prolific writer until his death in 2008. His works are archived at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. For more information please visit davidrubinsindia.com.