Talkative Man – R. K. Narayan

A delightful, briskly paced comic novella starring Malgudi’s most talkative resident, who finds himself entangled in the mysterious and scandalous life of an eccentric stranger.

About the Book: First published in 1986, Talkative Man is one of R. K. Narayan's shortest and most engagingly tightly-wound novellas. The story is narrated by a popular recurring character in the Malgudi landscape: a young, wealthy man-about-town nicknamed "Talkative Man" (TM), who aspires to be a journalist and spends his days gathering gossip at the local town square.

TM's ordinary routine is upended when he meets Dr. Rann, a sophisticated, smooth-talking stranger who arrives in Malgudi wearing a formal three-piece suit. Claiming to be a brilliant researcher working for the United Nations on a project about a global weed crisis, Rann quickly charms the town and moves into the cozy railway station waiting room. Feeling a sense of journalistic curiosity, TM generously invites the eccentric doctor to stay at his own home on Kabir Street.

However, the truth about Rann begins to unravel when a formidable, larger-than-life woman arrives in Malgudi all the way from Delhi, claiming to be Rann's fiercely abandoned wife. As TM digs deeper, he discovers that the sophisticated doctor is actually a serial bigamist and a charming fraud who is already plotting to elope with a young local girl. Written with Narayan's signature gentle satire, quick wit, and deep understanding of human eccentricities, Talkative Man is a brilliant, fast-moving comedy of manners.