Besieged

Pointing to the major themes that are present in his masterpiece of a novel The Horned Man, these stories capture an array of seemingly normal people who become possessed by urges, compulsions, life forces, unsavory spirits, and uncanny inclinations that defy their quest for a decent life. Lasdun's stories skewer the notion of free will and seem to say that attempts to defy our destiny, our true urges, will only make those urges stronger. Thus the theme of repression and its discontents runs through all these stories, which are magical, plot-driven and told with poetic acuteness. If you like to read about characters consumed by obsessions as they face the consequences of their repression, you will like this sterling collection.