An illiterate goatherd keeps alive a sacred epic that he alone he still knows by heart. A temple prostitute resists her own initiation into sex work, yet pushes her daughters into a trade she now regards as a holy calling. Nine people, nine lives, each one taking a different religious path. Exquisite and mesmerising, Nine Lives explores how traditional forms of religious life in India have been transformed in the region's rapid change. A distillation of 25 years of exploring India and its religious traditions, Nine Lives, longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, is a modern Canterbury Tales.