In the glittering rot of Sodom, where opium blooms like dark flowers since time immemorial, Lot, a foreigner, threads his life through shadows―with his wife, daughters, and humanity at stake. Sodom is a modern inferno, devouring its own: Emalath, Bithya, Jachin, mere echoes in its relentless feast. Lot's solitary compassion fractures the city's void, his kindness is but a costly lamentation. The Stain reimagines the biblical scape, a Levantine dreamscape where the known unravels―truth and humanity become questions, not answers. Translated from the Malayalam by Sangeetha Sreenivasan. Sarah Joseph  is a highly acclaimed Malayalam novelist, short-story writer, political commentator and activist. She is the author of eight novels, nine collections of short fiction, five novelettes, and several plays, children literature and non-fiction books. Her many awards include the Sahitya Akademi Award, the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, the Vayalar Award, the Crossword Award, the Padmaprabha Literary Award, the O Chandu Menon Award and the Shashwathi Award. Her name is inextricably linked with the feminist movement in Kerala and her radical writings inspired and paved the way for future generations of Malayali working women and activists. Sangeetha Sreenivasan  is a bilingual author of several works of fiction and children’s literature, including  Acid  published by Penguin Random House India. In addition to her original works, Sreenivasan has translated Elena Ferrante’s  The Days of Abandonment  into Malayalam. Her translation of one of Georges Simenon’s Maigret novels is forthcoming from Mathrubhumi Books. She is currently working on a translation of Chris Kraus’s cult feminist classic  I Love Dick .