The Poison Tree

The Poison Tree (1873) is a novel by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. Originally serialized in Bangadarshan, a popular literary magazine founded by Chatterjee in 1872 and later edited by Rabindranath Tagore, The Poison Tree is a story that engages with the subject of widow remarriage. “The river flowed smoothly on—leaped, danced, cried out, restless, unending, playful. On shore, herdsmen were grazing their oxen—one sitting under a tree singing, another smoking, some fighting, others eating. Inland, husbandmen were driving the plough, beating the oxen, lavishing abuse upon them, in which the owner shared.” With his wife’s blessing, Nagendra sets out on a journey by boat down the river. When a sudden storm forces him to leave his boat for safety, he comes across the ruined home of Kundanandini, a young widow caring for her father in his final days. When the old man dies, Kundanandini begs him to take her to Calcutta. As he begins to fall for the beautiful woman, he struggles with the demands of family, religion, and tradition, knowing that love wields power over them all. Tragic and timeless, The Poison Tree is a brilliant romance from a legendary figure in Bengali literature.Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.