In his brief life, Shahidul Zahir, who was born in Old Dhaka in 1953, published only six books. However, these are some of the most distinctive and potent works of fiction to have emerged from the subcontinent, fusing surrealism, folklore, oral storytelling customs, magic realism, a searing understanding of social and political reality, and rare clarity of vision. I Saw the Face is a different account of Bangladesh's history that starts with the War of Liberation in 1971. Zahir offers a picture of the crises in post-independence Bangladesh and describes how society or the State pushes a poor but intelligent youngster to destruction by fluidly switching between the past and the present and back again. Above all, there is incisive wit and humour.