The Census Taker Stories of a Traveler in India and Nepal by Marilyn Stablein ISBN 978-0930773-236

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Winner of the King County Arts Commission Publication Award

Marilyn Stablein leads us on an intimate journey through India and Nepal with a vivid collection of images and encounters. Whether describing Tibetan hotels, animal sacrifices, plunging buses, or how a toilet becomes a museum, Stablein has an eye for detail, a facility with language that includes elements of reportage, folk tales, exotic narrative, and a sensitivity to the cultures she evokes.

"[Stablein] brings a fresh, appreciative eye to a set of national images . . . her ironic stance provides a novel experience."

            -- Publisher's Weekly

"Stablein has applied her whimsical Western eye to the mystical East . . . conveying so much droll irony in that simple juxtaposition of viewpoints."

            -- Quarterly West

Kudos from Other Writers:

"The author's eye is open wide, and her writing is fresh, funny, and exhilarating."

            -- Peter Matthiessen

"Illuminated with the tenderness and frankness that I so value in fiction, and which I rarely see."

            -- Jack Cady