The village of Praeknamdang, nestled in the Thai jungle, has fallen under the spell of a corrupt religious leader. Only one family dares to resist his growing power: a couple and their talented ten-year-old son. But one day, while playing in the fields, the boy is attacked by a cobra. Locked in a life and death struggle with the snake, the border between the human and the animal disintegrates. Did the boy simply stray too near to a burrow, or is this a punishment for his family's independent spirit? A gripping existential parable, Venom introduces English language readers to the world of Saneh Sangsuk. Lush, raw and lyrical, this is storytelling at its finest.
The Understory