'only the soul knows' .. for me has been a rare book as i could feel the texture of the inner spaces traversed by the poetess .. I did not have to make an effort to relate to the thoughts and metaphors of the poetess .. effortlessly I bathed in those experiences which were presented in the courtyards of an indian home .. kamala das's book of poetry though extremely indian in context surpasses boundaries of age and culture .. extremely sensitive yet bold .. I do not know her age but the passage she has written about her father's death presents her before me as a child who has observed the entire methodicity and the coldness of the event with great maturity .. she while reminiscing her father observes the absurdities of the people around them .. also within this she also realizes the loss of innocence within her .. I have never enjoyed poetry by any indian poet as much as I did 'only the soul knows..' as I feel its very honest and transparent and whats more i don't feel i am reading poetry .. just the poetess speaking to me ..

This is a very interesting selection of the work of one of India's key writers, Kamala Das. It includes some of her poetry, short stories, an excerpt from her autobiography 'My Story' and finally a selection of critical essays on Das and her writing.

Das has been published since the 1960s, and has written in both English and Malayalam (under the name of Madhavikutty). It is interesting to see here ("Introduction") her articulation of the decision all writers face when English is a foreign language: in which language should one write? Does one use English, to write about subjects which might not otherwise be acceptable and risk losing the local audience; or conversely, does one choose to write in one's own language and possibly lose the outside audience?

One of the themes in her work is sexuality, and the place of Indian women in regard to marriage, sex, and freedom, and the difficulties women writers can face. Some of her writing can be very confronting (the short story on child prostitution springs to mind): she writes quite starkly about issues which have not always been given voice by women in her society.

The included critical essays are all interesting, and help to bring out some of the issues in reading and understanding her work. Personally I'm not a fan of Das' work, but I do recommend this collection if you're looking for a starting point into her writing, or even more generally as an example of Indian lit.