WILLPOWER

Eight years ago, Nasir took the key to a single room and named his business Beginning Printers. Now a heavy new padlock hangs on that same door, and under it a notice demands the unpaid rent.

One enormous order turned out to be a trap, and it brought the shop down. The bank has taken the machine. The debt has crept up to nearly three hundred thousand taka, and the people who once greeted him warmly now choose their words with care. At home, by the light of a hurricane lamp, Rumana asks what he means to do when morning comes. Mim, nine years old, still believes in her father. Five-year-old Rafi wants to know when the press will wake up.

Willpower follows one year, and no miracle arrives in it. A man gets out of bed. A job pays eighty taka. A misspelled name is admitted to. An old typesetter keeps showing up with quiet hands. It is the story of how a person finds solid ground under his feet and starts building on it.