The Night Has a Thousand Eyes: My Favourite Stories of Love, Warmth, and Friendship

by Ruskin Bond

The Night Has a Thousand Eyes is the newest collection of heartwarming stories from the master storyteller Ruskin Bond. It includes classics like ‘Angry River’, ‘The Cherry Tree’, ‘The Blue Umbrella’, ‘Friends of My Youth’, ‘The Night Train at Deoli’, and two new delightful stories that have never been published before. The title story, ‘The Night Has a Thousand Eyes’, traces the narrator’s journey from London to India and his encounter with an ambassador’s daughter. In ‘High Water’ the protagonist ventures near a beach where he finds a mysterious companion. These thirty-six moving stories of ordinary people who encounter extraordinary moments of warmth, tenderness, companionship, and grace in their lives once again show why Ruskin Bond is India’s most beloved writer.

327 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2023

About the author

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.

Reviews

[Shuv · Rating 5 out of 5]

A most beautiful collection of stort stories by our fav Mr. Bond. Ruskin Bond.

Just some of the thoughts that came to me while reading the stories:

a. Most of the stories have Mr. Bond himself as the protagonist, where he at times contradicts his own stories. It shows the time that has passed between each of his little anecdotes.

b. The Blue Umbrella is one of the stories and it is truly such a sweet one.

c. His stories may be simple and sweet but they also carry a deep understanding of nature which I came to discover he acquired from his father, a person he misses terribly and the hurt shows in the stories. His stories of partition esp about Omar in the Playing Fields of Shimla well illustrates the pain of separation. Also the confusion of who will land where after the deed is done.

d. Are his stories fictitious? Yes, probably. But I would still like to think that the love, the hurt, the pain and the wonder that are in his stories are real. So real that they are his inspiration. So real that they are now a part of him.

e. I particularly loved the story titled Gracie, as it is without judgement, none of his stories carries any but readers familiar with the story will understand why I say so. This story is just a resignation to the fact that life is unpredictable and you do what you need to do to survive.

[Ashok Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple. Beautiful. Poignant tales that all explore various aspects of human emotions, the tenderest and most beautiful of them. Loved the anthology. ♥️

[Krutika · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a reason why people of all ages keep going back to grab Ruskin Bond’s books. The simplicity and comfort that they offer are unmatched. The Night has a Thousand Eyes is no different. Comprising of 36 stories, this heartwarming book offered some new and familiar tales like The Blue Umbrella and The Night Train at Deoli. But the never before published two stories ‘High Water’ and the title story ended up being my favourite. Some fictionalised and some real, these stories were absolutely delightful.

These are stories of children making unexpected friendships, a ghost that tries to help a young boy caught up in strong currents, a queen who lives in a room of colourful windows and Ruskin sharing a sweet kiss with the daughter of an Indian ambassador on a ship. Tales of love, friendship, hope and sometimes, loss.

So when you feel a bit sad and want a cheer me up, don’t forget this latest collection of stories from @ruskinbondofficial . Needless to say, I highly recommend it. Thank you for the review copy @alephbookco ✨

[Rahul Vishnoi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A writer has a thousand pens and from those thousand pens come magical words woven in the form of stories you want someone to tuck you in bed with, warm and snug in a roof with a wooden roof and a window with a slightly cracked glass from which the mist seeps through, fogging the window but not completely obliterating the view since you can still see those twinkling lights that shimmer on that hill that looks so close but is really far away- oh are those people travelling in a car, could that be a boy morse-signaling me, could that be someone reading the same book as me?
No points for guessing who this writer is.
Mr Ruskin Bond, like always, has done it again. To produce a feeling of ‘this that I wrote above’. What is four times nine? It’s 36 and 36 are the stories that Mr Bond has presented us with in his new book. A mix of old stories and new…but do stories really get old? I can read The Blue Umbrella every month and it never gets dull. So the point isn’t if it’s old or new, the point is did you get this book?
Go run fast.

[Jainand Gurjar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Night Has A Thousand Eyes by Ruskin Bond is a collection of 36 favourite stories of the author that celebrates love, warmth and friendship.

The stories in the collection strikes the human emotions that everyone goes through - Love! Love for friends, romantic partners, parents, nature, strangers and anything which we can think of. And the stories were a sheer joy, happiness and calmness.

There were many stories in the collection that I have read previously and that we all have heard of, like "The Blue Umbrella", "Angry River", "The Night Train In Deoli", and some stories about which I have had no idea, and which became my favourite. "Love Is a Sad Song" being one of them, which @ and @ told me later that they enjoyed reading it equally and now I can understand why!

Mr. Bond writes in the introduction that "I do not write plots, I wrote people". And this is so true! Like Koki, Ranji, Teju from "When the Gauvas Are Ripe", Binya from "The Blue Umbrella ", Sita from "The Angry River", Bisnu from "Dust On the Mountains", Sushila from "Love Is a Sad Song" there are countless characters that he wrote who feels like someone that we know from our own childhood! And that's the beauty of this writing.

The warmth, comfort, and fulfillment of these cosy stories matches the looks of the cover, which is so gorgeous. This book is my favourite collection by Mr. Bond out of all the books I've read till now.

If you are looking forward to reading a book that can make you smile, shy, love, longing, and maybe blush at moments, go for this book! It's definitely a highly recommended book from my side, one of my favourites from this year for sure. I'll give it 5/5.