Skip to main content
A multidimensional world of seers, dreams and prophecies
Nagaland shawl with tiger and lion motiv

Spirit Nights
by Easterine Kire
Barbican Press, £9.99

SPIRIT NIGHTS is a challenging yet compelling read, but one likely to fully reward the persistent reader by its close.

Both set in and inspired by the rich cultural history of Nagaland, the remote state in north-eastern India, author Easterine Kire offers an immersive experience that certainly can be classified as part mythology and part an ethnographical study.

Yet, in so many more respects, it is far more than the combination of these two genres, as it also explores the universal themes of love, loss, courage and the tension between individual and collective responses to existential threats.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
(L to R) Harry Pollitt, Vladimir Lenin and Ernest Bevin
Book Review / 18 February 2022
18 February 2022
Book Review / 10 November 2021
10 November 2021
An absorbing metaphor for contemporary Western societies is recommended by PAUL SIMON
Reykjavik in close-up
Literature / 30 August 2021
30 August 2021
PAUL SIMON falls under the spell of little known authors from an island at the edge of the world
CATHARTIC: Leo Zeilig
FICTION / 2 August 2021
2 August 2021
PAUL SIMON recommends the story of a charismatic malcontent
Similar stories
dream web
Literature / 29 April 2025
29 April 2025

FIONA O’CONNOR steps warily through a novel that skewers many of the exposed flanks of the over-privileged

Los Angeles Clippers guard Norman Powell (24) defends agains
Sport / 14 January 2025
14 January 2025
Crime Fiction / 7 January 2025
7 January 2025
A late Christmas cornucopia, a Canadian wolf, a dodgy motel and Peter Diamond’s last bow
Literature / 4 June 2024
4 June 2024
Femicide and the search for justice in Mexico: a book by Cristina Rivera Garza; and a travel book through Latin America by Welsh poet Richard Gwyn